BTPC File

What are BTPC files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a BTPC file or are you simply curious about its contents? We're here to explain the properties of these files and provide you with software that can open or handle your BTPC files.

What is a BTPC file?

A .BTPC file is a BTPC Encoded Bitmap file.

BTPC Encoded Bitmap is a compressed image format developed by John A. Robinson around 2003 as part of his BTPC (Binary Tree Predictive Coding) project. It's intended for storing still images in a compact form, with both lossy and lossless options, and performs reasonably well across many image types including photographs, graphics, bilevel (black-and-white) content, and medical imagery.

Files are produced by BTPC version 5 software. The workflow is: an input image (in PBM, PGM or PPM raw format) is compressed by the cbtpc program into BTPC Encoded Bitmap form. To retrieve the image, the dbtpc program decompresses the BTPC file back into PGM or PPM formats. The format supports an optional "quality" parameter between 0 (maximally lossy) and 100 (lossless) when creating files.

Technical signature: the file begins with the ASCII characters "btpc " (that is 0x62 0x74 0x70 0x63 0x20) at offset 0, followed by a byte valued 0x2E at offset 6, marking it unmistakably as BTPC Encoded Bitmap.

How to open BTPC files

Important: Different programs may use files with the BTPC file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your BTPC file is, you may need to try a few different programs.

We have not yet verified any programs for Windows that work with this specific file format. If you know one, please use the 'Suggest a program' link below. Thanks!

Last updated: August 25, 2026

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