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This article is a list of the color palettes for notable computer graphics, terminals and video game console hardware.
Only a sample and the palette's name are given here. More specific articles are linked from the name of each palette, for the test charts, samples, simulated images, and further technical details (including references).
In the past, manufacturers have developed many different display systems in a competitive, non-collaborative basis (with a few exceptions, as the VESA consortium), creating many proprietary, non-standard different instances of display hardware. Often, as with early personal and home computers, a given machine employed its unique display subsystem, with its also unique color palette. Also, software developers had made use of the color abilities of distinct display systems in many different ways. The result is that there is no single common standard nomenclature or classification taxonomy which can encompass every computer color palette.
In order to organize the material, color palettes have been grouped following arbitrary but rational criteria. First, generic monochrome and full RGB repertories common to various computer display systems. Second, usual color repertories used for display systems that employ indexed color techniques. And finally, specific manufacturers' color palettes implemented in many representative early personal computers and videogame consoles of various brands.
The list for personal computer palettes is split into two categories: 8-bit and 16-bit machines. This is not intended as a true strict categorization of such machines, because mixed architectures also exist (16-bit processors with an 8-bit data bus or 32-bit processors with a 16-bit data bus, among others). The distinction is based more on broad 8-bit and 16-bit computer ages or generations (around 1975–1985 and 1985–1995, respectively) and their associated state of the art in color display capabilities.
Here is the common color test chart and sample image used to render every palette in this series of articles:
See further details in the summary paragraph of the corresponding article.
For the purpose of this article, the term monochrome palette means a set of intensities for a monochrome display, and the term RGB palette is defined as the complete set of combinations a given RGB display can offer by mixing all the possible intensities of the red, green, and blue primaries available in its hardware.
These are generic complete repertories of colors to produce black and white and RGB color pictures by the display hardware, not necessarily the total number of such colors that can be simultaneously displayed in a given text or graphic mode of any machine. RGB is the most common method to produce colors for displays; so these complete RGB color repertories have every possible combination of R-G-B triplets within any given maximum number of levels per component.
For specific hardware and different methods to produce colors than RGB, see the List of computer hardware palettes and the List of video game consoles sections.
For various software arrangements and sorts of colors, including other possible full RGB arrangements within 8-bit depth displays, see the List of software palettes section.
These palettes [1] only have some shades of gray.
Bits | Monochrome (1-bit) black and white | 2-bit grayscale 22 = 4 levels of gray | 4-bit grayscale 24 = 16 levels of gray | 8-bit grayscale 28 = 256 levels of gray |
---|---|---|---|---|
No dithering | ||||
Floyd–Steinberg dithering | ||||
Each permuted pair of red, green, and blue (16-bit color palette, with 65,536 colors). For example, "additive red green" has zero blue and "subtractive red green" has full blue.
These full RGB palettes employ the same number of bits to store the relative intensity for the red, green and blue components of every image's pixel color. Thus, they have the same number of levels per channel and the total number of possible colors is always the cube of a power of two. It should be understood that 'when developed' many of these formats were directly related to the size of some host computers 'natural word length' in bytes—the amount of memory in bits held by a single memory address such that the CPU can grab or put it in one operation.
Bits | 3-bit RGB 21×3 = 8 colors | 6-bit RGB 22×3 = 64 colors | 9-bit RGB 23×3 = 512 colors | 12-bit RGB 24×3 = 4,096 colors | 15-bit RGB 25×3 = 32,768 colors | 18-bit RGB 26×3 = 262,144 colors | 24-bit RGB 28×3 = 16,777,216 colors |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
no dithering | |||||||
Floyd-Steinberg dithering | |||||||
Color cube |
These are also RGB palettes, in the sense defined above (except for the 4-bit RGBI, which has an intensity bit that affects all channels at once), but either they do not have the same number of levels for each primary channel, or the numbers are not powers of two, so are not represented as separate bit fields. All of these have been used in popular personal computers.
4-bit RGBI 23×2 = 16 colors | 3-level RGB 33 = 27 colors | 3-3-2 bit RGB 8×8×4 = 256 colors | 16-bit RGB 32×64×32 = 65,536 colors (HighColor) |
Systems that use a 4-bit or 8-bit pixel depth can display up to 16 or 256 colors simultaneously. Many personal computers in the later 1980s and early 1990s displayed at most 256 different colors, freely selected by software (either by the user or by a program) from their wider hardware's color palette.
Usual selections of colors in limited subsets (generally 16 or 256) of the full palette includes some RGB level arrangements commonly used with the 8 bpp palettes as master palettes or universal palettes (i.e., palettes for multipurpose uses).
These are some representative software palettes, but any selection can be made in such types of systems.
These are selections of colors officially employed as system palettes in some popular operating systems for personal computers that feature 8-bit displays.
These are selections of colors based on evenly ordered RGB levels, mainly used as master palettes to display any kind of image within the limitations of the 8-bit pixel depth.
6 level RGB 63 = 216 colors | 6-8-5 levels RGB 6×8×5 = 240 colors | 6-7-6 levels RGB 6×7×6 = 252 colors | 8-8-4 levels RGB 8×8×4 = 256 colors |
Adaptive palettes Picked colors | Grayscale palettes Levels of gray | Color gradient palettes Levels of any hue | False color palettes Continuous-tone colors |
In early personal computers and terminals that offered color displays, some color palettes were chosen algorithmically to provide the most diverse set of colors for a given palette size, and others were chosen to assure the availability of certain colors. In many early home computers, especially when the palette choices were determined at the hardware level by resistor combinations, the palette was determined by the manufacturer.
Many early models output composite video colors. When seen on TV devices, the perception of the colors may not correspond with the value levels for the color values employed (most noticeable with NTSC TV color system).
For current RGB display systems for PC's (Super VGA, etc.), see the 16-bit RGB and 24-bit RGB for HighColor (thousands) and TrueColor (millions of colors) modes.
For video game consoles, see the List of video game consoles section.
For every model, their main different graphical color modes are listed based exclusively in the way they handle colors on screen, not all their different screen modes.
The list is ordered roughly historically by video hardware, not grouped by branch. They are listed according to the original model of every system, which implies that enhanced versions, clones and compatibles also support the original palette.
Teletext (1976) 2×3 cell graphic block characters on a 40×25 character page. 2 colors per block, chosen from 8 primary colors (1 bit each of red, green, and blue). The first row is reserved for a page header and attributes are set with control codes which each occupy one character position giving a maximum resolution of 78×72. | |
Apple II (1977) "Low" (text block) 16-color, "high resolution" (140x192 bitmap) 6-color and "double high" 16-color (NTSC artifact based; actually 280×192 monochrome) graphic modes. | |
VIC-20 (1980) 200 definable characters of 8×16 pixels each, 8 or 10 color palette modes with 2 colors per character cell. | |
CGA for IBM-PC (1981) 16-color text mode (unofficially adjustable to give a 160×100 16-color bitmap mode), 4 color medium and monochrome high resolution graphic modes; medium resolution modes select from six preset palettes (four official, two undocumented; actually three main palettes in low and high intensity form) for the three "foreground" colors, with a free choice amongst the 8 low intensity colors for the fourth, "background" color. All modes work within the same 16-color master palette (1 bit each of red, green, blue, and intensity/brightness) as text mode. | |
Commodore 64 (1982) Low-resolution "Multicolor" (4 colors per sprite or character cell) and medium resolution (2 color per sprite/cell) graphic modes, choosing from 16-color master palette. | |
ZX Spectrum (1982) Bitmapped display with 15 colors (primary hues of RGB with two intensity levels for each except black), assigned on the basis of two "attributes" per 8×8 pixel character cell. Cells also share one intensity level between both "paper" and "ink" colors. | |
Mattel Aquarius (1983) Similar character block and "pixel" arrangement to Teletext, but resolution is a true 80×72 (2×3 pixels on 40×24 grid) and master palette is expanded to 16 colors (1 bit each of red, green, blue, brightness). | |
MSX systems (1983) "Screen 2" and "Screen 3" 15-color graphic modes. | |
Thomson MO5 (1984) Fixed 16-color palette (1 bit each of red, green, blue, and brightness, with bright white replaced by orange), with 2 colors per block on an 8×1 pixel attribute grid. | |
Commodore Plus/4 (1984) Multicolor and High resolution 16-color graphic modes, from 121-color master palette (black and 15 hues by 8 luminosity levels). | |
Amstrad CPC (1984) Low 16-, medium 4- and high resolution 2-color graphic modes (160, 320 and 640 × 200 pixels), from 27-color master palette (3 levels for each of red, green and blue). | |
MSX2 systems (1985) "Screen 8" 256-color graphic modes (3 bits each of red and green, 2 bits for blue). | |
Fujitsu FM-77 AV 40 (1986) Low 262,144-color and high resolution 8-color graphic modes, from 262,144-color palette (6 bits for each of red, green, and blue). | |
MSX2+ systems (1988) "Screen 10&11" 12,499-color YJK+YAE and "Screen 12" 19,268-color YJK graphic modes |
EGA for IBM PC/AT (1984) Medium and high resolution 16-color graphic modes, out of 64 (2 bits for each of red, green, and blue). | |
Atari ST (1985) Low 16-, medium 4-color and high resolution monochrome modes, out of 512 (3 bits for each of red, green, and blue) or 4096 (4 bits each) on STe. | |
Commodore Amiga OCS (1985) 2-, 4-, 8-, 16- and 32-color standard graphic modes, EHB 64-color and HAM 4096-color enhanced modes; 2 to 64 color modes pick from a 4096-color master palette (4 bits for each of red, green, and blue), with 64 color mode constructed from 32 normally chosen colors plus a second set of 32 fixed at half the intensity of the first. HAM mode restricted by only being able to change one color channel (red, green or blue) per pixel. | |
Apple IIgs (1986) Super High Res 4-, 8-, 16- and 256-color graphic modes, from 4096 (4 bits of each of red, green, and blue), with some palette choice restrictions in 80-column modes. | |
MCGA and VGA for IBM PC/AT (1987) Medium 256- and high resolution 16-color graphic modes, from 262,144 (6 bits of each of red, green, and blue). | |
Sharp X68000 (1987) Medium 65,536-color and high resolution 16-color graphic modes, from 65,536. |
Color palettes of some of the most popular video game consoles. The criteria are the same as those of the List of computer hardware palettes section.
Atari 2600 (1977) 4 out of 128 colors (16 hues by 8 luminosity levels) on every scanline | |
Famicom/NES (1983) 25 out of 55 usable colors (12 hues by 4 luminosity levels, + 7 greys); 1 background color, four 3-color (plus transparent) tile palettes and four 3-color (plus transparent) sprite palettes. | |
Sega Master System (1985) 32 colors out of 64 (2 bits for each of red, green, and blue) | |
NEC PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16 (1987) 482 colors out of 512 | |
Sega Mega Drive/Genesis (1988) 61 colors out of 512 (or approximately 1500 including shadow/highlight modes) | |
Nintendo Game Boy (1989) 4 grayscales, rendered as shades of green on the original model's screen (and later, true grayscales, on the Game Boy Pocket). | |
Sega Game Gear (1990) 32 colors out of 4,096 | |
Super Famicom/SNES (1990) 256 out of 32,768 colors (5 bits for each of red, green, and blue) | |
Nintendo Game Boy Color (1998) Type 1 (original Game Boy) cartridges with free choice of various 10-color palettes (built into console and chosen at system start; no example shown), and Type 3 (GBC enhanced or exclusive) cartridges with own 56-color palettes. Arranged as a single background layer with 4 colors and 2 sprite layers of 3 colors plus transparent (Type 1), or eight 4-color background palettes with eight 3-color sprite layers (Type 3), chosen from a 32,768-color master palette. | |
Nintendo Game Boy Advance/SP/Micro (2001) Type 1 (original Game Boy), Type 3 (Game Boy Color) 56-color and Type 4 (GBA) 32,768-color cartridges (limited to 512 simultaneous colors on-screen in some display modes) | |
The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additive primary colors, red, green, and blue.
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the IBM PC compatible industry within three years. The term can now refer to the computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector, or the 640 × 480 resolution characteristic of the VGA hardware.
High color graphics is a method of storing image information in a computer's memory such that each pixel is represented by two bytes. Usually the color is represented by all 16 bits, but some devices also support 15-bit high color.
The Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) is an IBM PC graphics adapter and de facto computer display standard from 1984 that superseded the CGA standard introduced with the original IBM PC, and was itself superseded by the VGA standard in 1987. In addition to the original EGA card manufactured by IBM, many compatible third-party cards were manufactured, and EGA graphics modes continued to be supported by VGA and later standards.
Color depth or colour depth, also known as bit depth, is either the number of bits used to indicate the color of a single pixel, or the number of bits used for each color component of a single pixel. When referring to a pixel, the concept can be defined as bits per pixel (bpp). When referring to a color component, the concept can be defined as bits per component, bits per channel, bits per color, and also bits per pixel component, bits per color channel or bits per sample (bps). Modern standards tend to use bits per component, but historical lower-depth systems used bits per pixel more often.
In digital photography, computer-generated imagery, and colorimetry, a grayscale image is one in which the value of each pixel is a single sample representing only an amount of light; that is, it carries only intensity information. Grayscale images, a kind of black-and-white or gray monochrome, are composed exclusively of shades of gray. The contrast ranges from black at the weakest intensity to white at the strongest.
The Color Graphics Adapter (CGA), originally also called the Color/Graphics Adapter or IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter, introduced in 1981, was IBM's first color graphics card for the IBM PC and established a de facto computer display standard.
The Monochrome Display Adapter is IBM's standard video display card and computer display standard for the IBM PC introduced in 1981. The MDA does not have any pixel-addressable graphics modes, only a single monochrome text mode which can display 80 columns by 25 lines of high-resolution text characters or symbols useful for drawing forms.
Hold-And-Modify, usually abbreviated as HAM, is a display mode of the Commodore Amiga computer. It uses a highly unusual technique to express the color of pixels, allowing many more colors to appear on screen than would otherwise be possible. HAM mode was commonly used to display digitized photographs or video frames, bitmap art and occasionally animation. At the time of the Amiga's launch in 1985, this near-photorealistic display was unprecedented for a home computer and it was widely used to demonstrate the Amiga's graphical capability. However, HAM has significant technical limitations which prevent it from being used as a general purpose display mode.
The Professional 325 (PRO-325), Professional 350 (PRO-350), and Professional 380 (PRO-380) are PDP-11 compatible microcomputers. The Pro-325/350 were introduced in 1982 and the Pro-380 in 1985 by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) as high-end competitors to the IBM PC.
8-bit color graphics are a method of storing image information in a computer's memory or in an image file, so that each pixel is represented by 8 bits (1 byte). The maximum number of colors that can be displayed at any one time is 256 per pixel or 28.
In computer graphics, a palette is the set of available colors from which an image can be made. In some systems, the palette is fixed by the hardware design, and in others it is dynamic, typically implemented via a color lookup table (CLUT), a correspondence table in which selected colors from a certain color space's color reproduction range are assigned an index, by which they can be referenced. By referencing the colors via an index, which takes less information than needed to describe the actual colors in the color space, this technique aims to reduce data usage, including processing, transfer bandwidth, RAM usage, and storage. Images in which colors are indicated by references to a CLUT are called indexed color images.
In computing, indexed color is a technique to manage digital images' colors in a limited fashion, in order to save computer memory and file storage, while speeding up display refresh and file transfers. It is a form of vector quantization compression.
Tandy Graphics Adapter is a computer display standard for the Tandy 1000 series of IBM PC compatibles, which has compatibility with the video subsystem of the IBM PCjr but became a standard in its own right.
Composite artifact colors is a designation commonly used to address several graphic modes of some 1970s and 1980s home computers. With some machines, when connected to an NTSC TV or monitor over composite video outputs, the video signal encoding allowed for extra colors to be displayed, by manipulating the pixel position on screen, not being limited by each machine's hardware color palette.