What is a metafile?
A metafile is simply a list of Windows drawing commands. The list may contain commands to draw objects such as lines, polygons and text. It may also contain commands to control the style of these objects such as what width pen to use when drawing the line, what brush pattern to use to fill the polygon and which font to pick when displaying the text. Metafiles are the standard method of exchanging vector graphics (i.e. drawings composed of objects) among Windows programs. Windows can draw a metafile with a single command, so any Windows program can easily display a metafile. Metafiles can also be scaled up or down in size with virtually no loss of image quality. This is what makes metafiles superior to bitmap graphics (i.e. images composed of dots) and why high-quality clipart is usually distributed as metafiles. There are actually two kinds of metafiles used by Windows systems today. A Windows metafile (WMF file) is a 16-bit file that can be used with Windows 3, Windows 95 and Windows
A metafile is a list of commands that can be played back to draw a graphic. Typically, a metafile is made up of commands to draw objects such as lines, polygons and text and commands to control the style of these objects. NOTE: Some people equate metafiles with vector graphics. In most cases this is fine; but, strictly speaking, a metafile can contain any mix of vector and raster graphics. For example, a metafile could contain just one command to display a bitmap! Unless the distinction is important, we will consider a metafile to be a kind of vector graphic in this FAQ.
The metafile can be seen as the identifying tag that is used to describe or specify some type of data or action file. In this sense, the metafile is understood to be the sneak preview of what another file is all about. Several types of metafiles are in common usage today, with the configurations and actual relation to other files varying slightly. One of the more common examples of the metafile is the Windows Metafile, or WMF. Utilized in Microsoft applications, the WMF is structured with the inclusion of a graphical device interface protocol that makes it possible to present a graphic image. By issuing the command to retrieve the information, the metafile initiates a search and retrieve function and generates the display. Some of the commands involved are a lot like vector graphics statements. In other instances, the commands may involve the identification and retrieval of stored bitmaps from some location on the hard drive. While it is possible to obtain the information by using the
A metafile is a list of commands that can be played back to draw a graphic. Typically, a metafile is made up of commands to draw objects such as lines, polygons and text and commands to control the style of these objects. NOTE: Some people equate metafiles with vector graphics. In most cases this is fine; but, strictly speaking, a metafile can contain any mix of vector and raster graphics. For example, a metafile could contain just one command to display a bitmap! In general, we will consider a metafile to be a kind of vector graphic. What is a Windows metafile (WMF file)? A Windows metafile is a 16-bit metafile that can be used by Windows 3.x, Windows 95, 98 and Windows NT to display a picture. It can contain both vector information and bitmap information. It is optimized for the Windows operating system. WMF is a Windows standard format that works well with Office. What is an enhanced metafile (EMF file)? An enhanced metafile is a 32-bit metafile that can be used by Windows 95, 98, N
Related Questions
- When I try to import my Oriana graphs as metafiles (WMF or EMF files or through the clipboard) into Corel Draw they are not displayed properly, or an error message is given. What is wrong?
- Can Metafile Companion convert Windows metafiles (WMF or EMF) to bitmap files (BMP, TIFF, GIF, JPEG etc.)?
- What is a metafile?
