Banding
Banding occurs when too few different colours are used to make smooth transitions. The ability to
notice colour banding is effected by how large the transition is, how many colours are used, and the
colour transition to be covered.
In general, most colour transitions that are done using less then 16-bit colour will have noticeable signs of
banding or dithering. Banding is most noticeable when light toned colours are used.
WARNING : SCREEN DEPTH MUST BE AT LEAST 24-BIT TO BE ABLE TO DIFFERENCIATE 16-BIT AND 24-BIT PICTURES
 |
 |
 |
| 24-bit Depth |
16-bit Depth | 8-bit Depth |
| 16777216 colours |
65536 colours |
256 colours |
 |
 |
 |
| 4-bit Depth |
2-bit Depth |
1-bit Depth |
| 16 colours |
4 colours |
2 colours |
Something to note about the use of these colours. Most people use 16-bit colour, so their should be no
noticable difference between 24-bit and 16-bit colour. This is actually based on the available colours
that people will see when they are using the respective colour depth display.
Dithering
Dithering is used to produce gradual changes in colours with a limited number of available transitional
colours. Without dithering, banding will occur. Dithering is more favourable then banding because it
will not create lines or blocks, which can lead to image misinterpretation.
WARNING : SCREEN DEPTH MUST BE AT LEAST 24-BIT TO BE ABLE TO DIFFERENCIATE 16-BIT AND 24-BIT PICTURES
|  |  |
| 24-bit Depth | 16-bit
Depth | 8-bit Depth |
| 16777216 colours | 65536
colours | 256 colours |
 |
 |
 |
| 4-bit Depth |
2-bit Depth |
1-bit Depth |
| 16 colours |
4 colours |
2 colours |
Banding & Dithering | Gamma & Anti-Aliasing
| 
