FreeImage

Key Features

* Ease of use: The library has been designed to be extremely simple in use. Our motto is: make difficult things simple instead of simple things difficult. * Not limited to the local PC: The unique FreeImageIO structure makes it possible to load your images from virtually anywhere. Possibilities include standalone files, memory, database and the Internet, all this without recompiling the library! * Plugin driven: The internal engine is made completely modular using a clever plugin system. Easily write new plugins and store them in DLL files or embed the plugins directly into your application! * Color conversion: FreeImage provides many functions to convert a bitmap from one bitdepth to another. The library supports 1-, 4-, 8-, 16, 24- and 32-bit standard images, as well as integer, real and complex images. * Common image manipulations: Provides basic image manipulation routines such as rotation, resizing, flipping or color adjustments, as well as lossless JPEG transformations. * Directly access bitmap bits and palette: Functions are provided which allow you to directly access the bitmap palette (if available) and bitmap bits. * Metadata support: Parse common metadata models attached to your bitmap. FreeImage supports Comments, Exif (including GPS and maker notes), IPTC, Adobe XMP, GeoTIFF and GIF animation metadata models. * Support for High Dynamic Range images: FreeImage supports RGB float images as well a 48-bit HDR images and provides tone mapping operators to convert these images to 24-bit LDR images. * Support for RAW files from digital photo cameras: FreeImage can load RAW files from digital photo cameras (CRW/CR2, NEF, RAF, DNG, MOS, KDC, DCR, etc), virtually all RAW formats are supported. * Full source code is provided: Written in portable C++, the library should compile on all 32-bit or 64-bit Windows, Linux and Mac OSX systems. FreeImage also includes comprehensive documentation to help you work with and learn about the code provided. * Open Source Dual-License: You can choose the license that has the most advantages for you: Use the liberal FreeImage Public License to use FreeImage commercially or the GNU General Public License to use FreeImage into your open source project. * Easily integrates into DirectX and OpenGL: Only a minimum of programming is necessary to store a FreeImage bitmap into a DirectDraw surface or to use FreeImage to load your Direct3D/OpenGL textures.