How can I convert byte[] to BitmapImage?

Question

I have a byte[] that represents the raw data of an image. I would like to convert it to a BitmapImage.

I tried several examples I found but I kept getting the following exception

"No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found."

I think it is because my byte[] does not actually represent an Image but only the raw bits. so my question is as mentioned above is how to convert a byte[] of raw bits to a BitmapImage.

Answer 1

When your byte array contains a bitmap's raw pixel data, you may create a BitmapSource (which is the base class of BitmapImage) by the static method BitmapSource.Create.

However, you need to specify a few parameters of the bitmap. You must know in advance the width and height and also the PixelFormat of the buffer.

byte[] buffer = ...;

var width = 100; // for example
var height = 100; // for example
var dpiX = 96d;
var dpiY = 96d;
var pixelFormat = PixelFormats.Pbgra32; // for example
var stride = (width * pixelFormat.BitsPerPixel + 7) / 8;

var bitmap = BitmapSource.Create(width, height, dpiX, dpiY,
                                 pixelFormat, null, buffer, stride);

Answer 2

The code below does not create a BitmapSource from a raw pixel buffer, as asked in the question.

But in case you want to create a BitmapImage from an encoded frame like a PNG or a JPEG, you would do it like this:

public static BitmapImage LoadFromBytes(byte[] bytes)
{
    using (var stream = new MemoryStream(bytes))
    {
        var image = new BitmapImage();
        image.BeginInit();
        image.CacheOption = BitmapCacheOption.OnLoad;
        image.StreamSource = stream;
        image.EndInit();

        return image;
    }
}