PPT2000: How to Control the Dimensions of Bitmaps (198219)

SUMMARY

When you save a PowerPoint slide in CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format (.gif), JPEG File Interchange Format (.jpg), Windows bitmap format (.bmp), Tagged Image File format (.tif), or Portable Network Graphics, (.png) format, PowerPoint calculates the size of the graphic in pixels by multiplying the slide dimensions (in inches) by 72. If you need to control the pixel dimensions of bitmap graphics created by PowerPoint, you can change the size of your slides.

Occasionally, you may want to create a graphic that is a certain number of pixels by a certain number of pixels in size, such as in the following examples:

You are using PowerPoint to create a picture you want to use as the wallpaper picture for your computer and you want the picture to fill your screen exactly.
You want to output your PowerPoint slides as 35 mm photographic slides and you do not have a Windows printer driver for your film recorder. Many film recorders include software that allows you to convert Tagged Image File Format (.tif), Targa (.tga), or Windows Bitmap (.bmp) formatted bitmap graphics into 35 mm slides.
You are using PowerPoint to create images that will be combined with digital video footage in a video editing program such as Adobe Premiere. Video editing programs can often combine .jpg, Device-Independent Bitmaps (.dib), .tga, or .bmp formatted images with video footage.

MORE INFORMATION

Bitmap graphics are computer graphics which are basically a rectangular array of dots of different colors. Each dot is called a "picture cell" or "pixel."

Although you can import bitmap graphics into PowerPoint, PowerPoint slides themselves are not bitmaps; they are vector-based graphics. A vector-based graphic is not made up of pixels; it is made up of mathematical expressions to describe all the shapes it contains. You can enlarge or reduce a vector-based graphic without losing any details. When you export a slide as a .gif, .png, or .jpg file, PowerPoint converts the vector-based graphics into bitmaps.

To change the size of your slides, follow these steps:

On the File menu, click Page Setup.
In the Width and Height boxes, type the measurements you want.
Click OK.

The following table lists the dimensions for some commonly-used bitmap formats.

Dimensions (in pixels)	Used For	Slide Height (inches)	Slide Width (inches)
640 x 480	VGA	8.89	6.67
800 x 600	SVGA	11.12	8.33
1024 x 768	SVGA	14.22	10.67
736 x 486	NSTC Video (Television)	10.22	6.75
2048 x 1366	Film Recorder (2K lines)	28.44	18.97
4096 x 2732	Film Recorder (4K lines)	56.88	37.94

NOTE: PowerPoint 2000 creates bitmaps differently than PowerPoint 97. PowerPoint 97 measures the slide area at 96 pixels per inch, so the resulting file size from PowerPoint 97 is larger in terms of pixel output. For additional information about creating bitmaps with PowerPoint 97, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

166330 PPT97: How to Control the Dimensions of Bitmaps