bmps?

The kind of file that the game produces when you take a photo in-game is bmp

And yet when you try to upload bmp files to the forums, it refuses to take them. Even though bmp is in the list of files acceptable, it refuses to take them. I've tried this dozens of times to no avail.

I always end up having to turn the bmps into jpegs. Now why is this?

That's odd. I've been able to upload .bmps before without problem... at least, I think I have.

But then, .bmps are hideously bloated as far as online applications go. Conversion to .jpg is much more polite, anyway.

File size is limited, bmp files are notoriously huge...

The BMPs you're saving are probably just simply too large for these forums (as others have said). Open the file somewhere else and convert it to JPG before posting. (Not GIF!)

Thanks for those tips. Because I can never get any kind of bmp to upload, I always open and convert to jpg and upload the jpg.

I just think it's odd that the bmp that the game itself produces from the in-game camera --the screenshots -- is something that is "too big" to be uploaded here LOL.

I agree with you that it may seem ironic in one sense, but it makes perfect sense when you think about it practically. SL outputs to bmp because it is a generic, uncompressed format that guarantees 100% image quality. What you see is EXACTLY what you get. However, bmp is just about the worst possible format for web applications (like this forum). On the web, file size is the most important thing. Image quality is about the least important. Web images should ALWAYS be jpg or gif (highly compressed formats).

Remember that the bmp SL generates for you is not actually treansferred to you by the server. It is a screenshot taken by the viewer on your machine and outputed straight to your hard drive. The SL host system is completely unaware whether you take a snapshot or not. Because snapshots don't have to stream over the internet, bmp is practical. For the forums however, the images obviously do have to transmit over the web so bmp is not a viable option. As I said, jpg of gif is ALWAYS the way to go on the web.

I really really really really hate it when people post bmp's here. Not all browsers can view them and they take forever to load. Do yourself a favor and just forget bmp even exists when you're online.