Windows Image Media Types
RFC 7903

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Independent Submission                                        S. Leonard
Request for Comments: 7903                                 Penango, Inc.
Category: Informational                                   September 2016
ISSN: 2070-1721

                       Windows Image Media Types

Abstract

   This document registers media types for certain image formats
   promulgated in Microsoft Windows, namely image/wmf, image/x-wmf,
   image/emf, image/x-emf, and image/bmp for use with Windows Metafile,
   Enhanced Metafile, and Windows Bitmap formats.  Originally designed
   for Microsoft Windows 2.0 and 3.0, these image files are intended to
   be portable between applications and devices, and they may contain
   both vector and raster graphics.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This is a contribution to the RFC Series, independently of any other
   RFC stream.  The RFC Editor has chosen to publish this document at
   its discretion and makes no statement about its value for
   implementation or deployment.  Documents approved for publication by
   the RFC Editor are not a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7903.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2016 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.

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RFC 7903                Windows Image Media Types         September 2016

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
      1.1. Windows Metafiles ..........................................2
      1.2. Windows Bitmaps ............................................3
   2. Windows Metafile Media Type Registration Application ............4
   3. Enhanced Metafile Media Type Registration Application ...........6
   4. Windows Bitmap Media Type Registration Application ..............9
   5. IANA Considerations ............................................11
   6. Security Considerations ........................................11
   7. References .....................................................11
      7.1. Normative References ......................................11
      7.2. Informative References ....................................11
   Author's Address ..................................................12

1.  Introduction

1.1.  Windows Metafiles

   Long before the invention of Scalable Vector Graphics, Microsoft
   Corporation recognized the value of recording images in a format that
   its applications and operating systems could easily render
   irrespective of the output device.  With the release of Windows 3.0,
   Microsoft released its Windows Metafile (WMF) format, which can
   contain vector and raster graphics in one package.  As a binary
   format that needed to work on 16-bit machines, WMF is comprised of a
   sequence of record structures.  Each record contains drawing
   commands, object definitions, and configuration settings.  When a
   metafile is processed, the image can be rendered on a display, output
   to a printer or plotter, stored in memory, or saved to some
   persistent storage.  Reflecting the relationship to the Windows
   Graphics Device Interface (GDI) API, WMF data is "played" to a
   playback device context in the same manner that PostScript content is
   treated as an executable program that results in the output of the
   original document.

   As Microsoft's first 32-bit operating system, Windows NT 3.1
   introduced an overhaul to the Windows API ("Win32") and the in-memory
   formats upon which those APIs relied.  The Enhanced Metafile (EMF)
   format was created at this time, using 32-bit values instead of WMF's
   16-bit values.  In Windows XP, Microsoft extended EMF with "EMF+",
   adding support for Windows GDI+.

   Many implementations of WMF and EMF were created because of Windows'
   commercial success in the 1990s.  A large body of free and
   commercially available clip art and other artwork exists in this
   format.  Furthermore, WMF content appears non-normatively in certain

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RFC 7903                Windows Image Media Types         September 2016

   standards (e.g., [OOXML]); the usage is common enough that an
   implementer would almost certainly need to support it for basic
   interoperability.