---
name: "pnmtoxwd"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "netpbm"
version: "10.86.51-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pnmtoxwd"
---

# pnmtoxwd(1)

convert a PNM into an X11 window dump

## NAME

pnmtoxwd - convert a PNM into an X11 window dump

## SYNOPSIS

**pnmtoxwd**

\[**-pseudodepth** *n*\]

\[**-directcolor**\]

\[*pnmfile*\]

## DESCRIPTION

This program is part of **Netpbm**(1) .

**pnmtoxwd** reads a PNM image as input and produces an X11 window dump as output.  You can display this output with **xwud**.

Normally, pnmtoxwd produces a StaticGray dump file for PBM and PGM files.  For PPM, it writes a PseudoColor dump file if there are up to 256 colors in the input, and a DirectColor dump file otherwise.

In an X11 window dump file, various integers can be represented in either big endian (most significant byte first) or little endian code. Those generated by **pnmtoxwd** are always big endian.

## OPTIONS

In addition to the options common to all programs based on libnetpbm (most notably **-quiet**, see \
  Common Options ⟨index.html#commonoptions⟩ ), **pnmtoxwd** recognizes the following command line options:

- **-directcolor**

  Output in DirectColor format.

- **-pseudodepth** *1-16*

  Set the depth of PseudoColor dump in bits.  Values between 1 to 16 are accepted.  Default is 8 (for a maximum of 256 colors.)

## SEE ALSO

[**xwdtopnm**(1)](/xwdtopnm/1.md) , **pnm**(1) , **xwud**

## AUTHOR

Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 by Jef Poskanzer.

## DOCUMENT SOURCE

This manual page was generated by the Netpbm tool 'makeman' from HTML source.  The master documentation is at

-

  **http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/pnmtoxwd.html**