It basically gives you that. The P6 version (".ppm") is a tiny text header followed by uncompressed RGB pixels in binary format. It's about as simple as you c

It basically gives you that. The P6 version (".ppm") is a tiny text header followed by uncompressed RGB pixels in binary format. It's about as simple as you can get for an image. Here, for example is a program to generate a red/green gradient: #include <stdio.h> int main( int argc, char **argv ) { printf( "P6 %d %d 255\n", 128, 128 ); for ( int y = 0; y < 128; ++y ) for ( int x = 0; x < 128; ++x ) printf( "%c%c%c", x * 2, y * 2, 0 ); return 0; } Boom. Done. I use this format all the time because it's so simple that I can write programs to generate it off the top of my head. No external image libraries to link, or even a need to consult the spec at this point. A few quick lines and I've got my image. If I really need something like a PNG or JPEG, I can just pipe it through ImageMagick: ./gradient | convert - gradient.png It's not a format I'd store my images in long term, but for quick-and-dirty image creation it's hard to beat.