Image format
The XWD format
XWD is a raw screen capture from Unix and Linux desktops. XWD is the screenshot format of the X Window System, written by the xwd command since the late 1980s.
When to use XWD
You won’t choose XWD for anything new; it is what xwd and some remote tools produce.
It is best for screen dumps taken on Unix and Linux systems, and it opens on GIMP, ImageMagick and X11 tools.
How to open it: GIMP and ImageMagick open XWD files; most other software won’t.
| Full name | X Window Dump |
|---|---|
| Extensions | .xwd |
| MIME type | image/x-xwindowdump |
| Introduced | 1987 |
| Compression | Uncompressed |
| Transparency | No |
| Animation | No |
| Support | Specialist format |
| Typical size | Width × height × 4 bytes for a typical true-color dump |
Good at
- Captures exactly what the X server displayed
Not so good at
- Uncompressed and large
- Hardly any modern software opens it
The common mistake
XWD stores pixels in the byte order and color layout of the machine that took it, so a dump from one system can look scrambled on another tool.
Questions
What is an XWD file?
XWD (X Window Dump) is a raw screen capture from Unix and Linux desktops. XWD is the screenshot format of the X Window System, written by the xwd command since the late 1980s.
How do I open an XWD file?
GIMP and ImageMagick open XWD files; most other software won’t.