C#-Bitmap to Byte array

Question

I have a method which saves the image from a panel. This method is using Bitmap class. I wants that my method should return byte array of the image.

 private byte[] SaveImage()
    {
        byte[] byteContent = null;
        using (Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(500, 500))
        {
            using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap))
            {
                Rectangle rectangle = myPanel.Bounds;
                Point sourcePoints = myPanel.PointToScreen(new Point(myPanel.ClientRectangle.X, myPanel.ClientRectangle.Y));
                g.CopyFromScreen(sourcePoints, Point.Empty, rectangle.Size);
            }

            string fileName = @"E:\\MyImages.Jpg";
            bitmap.Save(fileName, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg);
        }
        return byteContent;
    }

why are you returning Null byteContent? where in the code are you using or assigning byteContent..? — MethodMan, Sep 28 '12 at 18:54
Save the bitmap to a memory stream and set byteContent = stream.ToArray(); — Brandon Moretz, Sep 28 '12 at 18:55
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7350679/convert-a-bitmap-into-a-byte-array-in-c — Kevin, Sep 28 '12 at 18:57
@DJ KRAZE Actully i am intentionally returning the null to byte array variable because i don't know how to assign it the byte arrays — user1399377, Sep 28 '12 at 18:59
why did you point out "wpf" as a tag? the bitmap handling in wpf is COMPLETELY different! — user287107, Sep 28 '12 at 19:07

score 20 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 28 '12 at 18:56

You'll need to use a MemoryStream to serialize the bitmap to an image format and get the bytes;

using (Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(500, 500))
{
    using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap))
    {
        ...
    }

    using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
    {
        bitmap.Save(memoryStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg);
        return memoryStream.ToArray();
    }
}

There are multiple output formats to choose from, you may instead want Bmp or MemoryBmp.

C#-Bitmap to Byte array

1 Answers1