Passing android Bitmap Data within activity using Intent in Android

Convert it to a Byte array before you add it to the intent, send it out, and decode.

//Convert to byte array
ByteArrayOutputStream stream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
bmp.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.PNG, 100, stream);
byte[] byteArray = stream.toByteArray();

Intent in1 = new Intent(this, Activity2.class);
in1.putExtra("image",byteArray);

Then in Activity 2:

byte[] byteArray = getIntent().getByteArrayExtra("image");
Bitmap bmp = BitmapFactory.decodeByteArray(byteArray, 0, byteArray.length);

edit

Thought I should update this with best practice:

In your first activity, you should save the Bitmap to disk then load it up in the next activity. Make sure to recycle your bitmap in the first activity to prime it for garbage collection:

Activity 1:

try {
    //Write file
    String filename = "bitmap.png";
    FileOutputStream stream = this.openFileOutput(filename, Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
    bmp.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.PNG, 100, stream);

    //Cleanup
    stream.close();
    bmp.recycle();

    //Pop intent
    Intent in1 = new Intent(this, Activity2.class);
    in1.putExtra("image", filename);
    startActivity(in1);
} catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

In Activity 2, load up the bitmap:

Bitmap bmp = null;
String filename = getIntent().getStringExtra("image");
try {
    FileInputStream is = this.openFileInput(filename);
    bmp = BitmapFactory.decodeStream(is);
    is.close();
} catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Cheers!

Leave a Comment