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GraphicsAcademy.com > Glossary > Color Depth

Color Depth

Color Depth refers to the number of bits (binary digits) of computer memory that are used to store color information for an image (typically a bitmap) or for a device (such as a screen).

The greater the color depth, the more colors may be stored, and this also determines how many different colors the image or device may simultaneously contain/display. For example:

1-bit allows monochrome or 2 colors.
2-bit allows 4 colors.
4-bit allows 16 colors.
8-bit allows 256 colors.
16-bit allows 65,536 colors.
24-bit allows 16,777,216 colors.

At lower color depths (most often 8-bit or less) there is a limited range of colors that the image or device can simultaneously/display. Which particular colors are chosen in this limited range may either be preset, or can in most cases be determined by palette.

At higher color depths there is little point in using a palette and instead the the color of each pixel is defined by three separate Red, Green and Blue values (see RGB) which are generated by dividing up the total color bits between the three channels (this is known as TrueColor). For example, in 24-bit color, 8 bits are allocated to storage of Red information, 8 to Green, and 8 to Blue.

Related Pages on this site:

Bit Depth (Definition)
Palette (Definition)
TrueColor (Definition)

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