laoding RLE8 bmp

03 04 05 06 00 03 45 56 67 00 02 78 00 02 05 01 02 78 00 00 09 E 00 01 This bitmap would expand as follows (two-digit values represent a color index for a single pixel): 04 04 04 06 06 06 06 06 45 56 67 78 78 move current position 5 right and 1 down 78 78 end of line 1E 1E 1E 1E 1E 1E 1E 1E 1E end of RLE bitmap what does move current position 5 right and 1 down mean? according to the above example (which sould be something close to the official bmp format description example) the offset is not done within the bitmap itself. where then? as for the sequence 00 03 45 56 67 00 02 which should, as i understand it, mean "read three unique bytes and then offset 78 bytes right and 0 down" - why is the part ...67 00 02 78... not interpreted as an escape sequence? thanks crispy