What is the BMT file format?
The .bmt file is a proprietary binary image library used internally by Alpha Five (rebranded Alpha Anywhere in 2013), a Windows-based low-code RAD platform for building database applications. It stores a collection of bitmap images - icons, toolbar graphics, and other UI assets - that forms and reports within an Alpha Five project reference at runtime.
End users almost never interact with .bmt files directly. They reside inside an Alpha Five project folder alongside companion files such as .a5w (web pages), .a5p (project descriptors), and .dbf database tables. The format has no published specification and no documented magic bytes; it is entirely specific to the Alpha Five/Anywhere runtime.
The embedded images are Windows BMP-compatible bitmaps at up to 24-bit color depth, but the container structure - internal offsets, image counts, and reference tables - is undocumented. If you need to inspect or extract images from a .bmt file, the safest approach is to open the project in Alpha Anywhere and use its built-in image library manager.
Alpha Software, Inc. continues to develop and sell Alpha Anywhere (alphasoftware.com). Projects created in Alpha Five v1 through v11 migrated to Alpha Anywhere at the 2013 rebrand; the .bmt format persisted across all of those versions.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWBMT is a proprietary image library file with no executable content. No known security risks beyond the general caution of opening files from untrusted sources.
Format details
in a nutshell- Bitmap Table (various tools) - Some older Windows applications use .bmt as a generic extension for a table or index of bitmap images; unrelated to Alpha Five.
Programs that open BMT files
Windows2 apps
Alpha Five (legacy)
Paid Open the Alpha Five project; BMT files are managed automatically through the IDE's image library manager.
Alpha Anywhere
Paid Open the project in Alpha Anywhere (successor to Alpha Five); BMT image libraries are handled by the platform. Technical details
deep spec| File encoding | Binary - proprietary image library container |
| Byte order | Little-endian (Windows-native application) |
| Platform | Windows only; no macOS or Linux support |
| Image color depth | Up to 24 bpp (Windows BMP-compatible bitmaps) |
| Container specification | Proprietary and unpublished; no public format documentation |
| Magic bytes | None documented |
| Typical file size | 10 KB - 10 MB (varies with number and resolution of embedded images) |
| Project context | Companion file in an Alpha Five project folder alongside `.a5w`, `.a5p`, and `.dbf` files |
| Compression | Unknown; format specification not published |
| Format versions | Varies across Alpha Five v1 through v11, then Alpha Anywhere (rebranded 2013) |
| Access method | Managed exclusively through Alpha Anywhere; no documented standalone API |
| Released | circa 1994 (Alpha Five v1) |
BMT conversions
Community Q&A
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