writepicts2file (list-of-picts, filename) takes a list of pictures (presumably all the sub-pictures or connected components on a single page, as computed by con-pict), and writes them (rapidly) to a file in a format that is fast to read back in, A file produced in this way can be accessed in random order if necessary, and so might be a better representation for pages and pages of text where access to individual picture components (e.g., characters or perhaps words) are useful.
readpicts(filename) returns a Lisp list of pictures from a file written by writepicts2file.