I am trying to convert a BMP from 24 bits/pixel to 16 bit/pixel Mode in ImageMagick.

```
convert /tmp/a/new/37.bmp -depth 5 -define bmp:format=bmp2 /tmp/a/new/37_v2_16bit.bmp
convert /tmp/a/new/37.bmp -depth 5 -define bmp:format=bmp3 /tmp/a/new/37_v3_16bit.bmp

```

The result has the same 8 bit per R., per G. and per B., according to output of:
 identify -verbose

What am I doing wrong? How to get 16-bit color in BMP ?

Thank you!

P. S.

> 
> -depth value
> 
> 
> depth of the image. This is the number of bits in a pixel. The only acceptable values are 8 or 16.
>  <http://linux.math.tifr.res.in/manuals/html/convert.html>
> 
> 
> 

=(

Official Documentation says (no restrictions mentioned):

> 
> -depth value
> 
> 
> depth of the image. 
> 
> 
> This the number of bits in a color sample within a pixel. Use this option to specify the depth of raw images whose depth is unknown such as GRAY, RGB, or CMYK, or to change the depth of any image after it has been read.
> 
> 
> 

---

> 
> convert /tmp/a/new/37.bmp -colors 256 /tmp/a/new/37\_256.bmp
> 
> 
> 

makes the file smaller, but visually it is the same! wth?! )))))

---

> 
> convert /tmp/a/new/37.bmp -colors 65536 /tmp/a/new/37\_64k.bmp
> 
> 
> 

same size, same visual picture.

---

> 
> convert /tmp/a/new/37.bmp -dither None -colors 256 /tmp/a/new/37\_256\_nd.bmp
> 
> 
> 

a bit smaller again, but it does not look like 256-colored! bug? 256 colored 800x600 BMP is ~ 800x600x1 Bytes (without headers) ~ 480 000 Bytes. But it says ~650 000 Bytes)))) funny program))