Mathematica Import/Export Format

PBM (.pbm)

MIME type: image/x-portable-bitmap
PBM monochrome raster image format.
Member of the Portable family of image formats.
Related to PGM and PPM.
Implements a subset of the PNM format.
Native format of the Netpbm graphics software package.
Primarily used as an intermediate file format on Unix systems.
PBM is an acronym derived from Portable Bit Map.
ASCII or binary format.
Stores raster images formatted as plain text, representing each pixel as a 0 (white) or 1 (black).
Developed in 1988 as part of the Pbmplus package.

Import and Export fully support the PBM format.

Export creates binary PBM files.

If multiple images are present in a PBM file, Import returns the first of the images.

IMPORT AND EXPORT

Import["file.pbm"] imports a PBM file, returning an Image object.

Export["file.pbm", expr] exports an image, graphics or any other expression as a raster image to PBM.

Export by default generates binary PGM files.

When exporting Mathematica graphics or arbitrary expressions to PBM, the resulting image has the same raster size as its displayed form.

Image objects are by default exported at their raster size.

Because PBM is a raster image format, all fonts are rasterized on export.

Import["file.pbm", elem] imports the specified element from a PBM file.

Import["file.pbm", {elem, sub_a, sub_b, ...}] imports a subelement.

Import["file.pbm", {{elem₁, elem₂, ...}}] imports multiple elements.

The import format can be specified with Import["file", "PBM"] or Import["file", {"PBM", elem, ...}].

Export["file.pbm", expr, elem] creates a PBM file by treating expr as specifying element elem.

Export["file.pbm", {expr₁, expr₂, ...}, {{elem₁, elem₂, ...}}] treats each expr_i as specifying the corresponding elem_i.

Export["file.pbm", expr, opt₁->val₁, ...] exports expr with the specified option elements taken to have the specified values.

Export["file.pbm", {elem₁->expr₁, elem₂->expr₂, ...}, "Rules"] uses rules to specify the elements to be exported.

See the reference pages for full general information on Import and Export.

ImportString and ExportString support the PBM format.

NOTEBOOK INTERFACE

In the notebook front end, Insert ► Picture and the Open menu allow import of a PBM file into a cell.

Save Selection As exports the selected part of a notebook as a PBM file.

ELEMENTS

General Import elements:

	"Elements"	list of elements and options available in this file
	"Rules"	full list of rules for each element and option
	"Options"	list of rules for options, properties and settings

Data representation elements:

	"Data"	array of RGB triples
	"Graphics"	Graphics object representing an image
	"Image"	raster image, given as an Image object
	"GrayLevels"	array of normalized gray-level values
	"RGBColorArray"	array of RGBColor objects

Import and Export by default use the "Image"element for PBM files.

Advanced Import element:

"ImageSize"

raster dimensions

OPTIONS

General option:

ImageSize

Automatic

overall image size

Detailed properties:

	"ColorSpace"	GrayLevel	color space of the image
	"ImageTopOrientation"	Top	orientation of the image in the file

TUTORIALS

Importing Graphics and Sounds

Exporting Graphics and Sounds