Image vs BitmapImage vs Bitmap

Image is a base abstract class representing images in GDI+. Bitmap is a concrete implementation of this base class.

BitmapImage is a way to represent an image in a vector based GUI engine like WPF and Silverlight. Contrary to a Bitmap, it is not based on GDI+. It is based on the Windows Imaging Component.

There are ways to load a BitmapImage from a Bitmap.

WinForms/GDI+ uses the abstract class System.Drawing.Image and its implementation Bitmap.

WPF uses the abstract class System.Windows.Media.ImageSource (and BitmapSource) and its implementation BitmapImage.

WPF also has a control named Image, which is a FrameworkElement that contains and displays an ImageSource.

It took me a while to untangle that mess of terminology...