Color depth converter
Convert between bits per channel, bits per pixel and how many colors a display, image or camera can show.
That's about the same as 24-bit true color.
What it means
How many colors is that?
RGB without alpha. Bits per channel × 3 = bits per pixel; colors = 2^(bits per pixel).
Every unit
That depth in every form
Learn
Three things worth knowing
-
Each bit doubles
8-bit: 256 shades a channel; 10-bit: 1,024; 12-bit: 4,096.
-
From 1-bit to HDR
Early screens were 1-bit, black and white; VGA in 1987 showed 256 colors from 18-bit; 24-bit true color became standard in the 1990s.
-
“8-bit” can mean two things
An 8-bit GIF has 256 colors in all; an 8-bit-per-channel photo has 16.7 million.
Shortcuts
Popular color depth conversions
Background
About color depth
Each bit doubles the number of values. With 8 bits per channel each of red, green and blue has 256 levels, 24 bits per pixel, 16.7 million colors: “true color”. HDR video uses 10 bits per channel, over a billion colors, which removes banding in skies and shadows.