The term “color depth” in the context of display technology refers to the total number of colors that a display can portray. In general, a display reproduces a wide range of colors by combining R, G, and B sub-pixels and modifying each R, G, and B sub-highlight pixel and shadow details (gradation). The finer shades of color that a display can depict depend on the color depth.
The term “bit” refers to the unit used to measure color depth, which is the total amount of colors that a screen is capable of rendering.
A sub-pixel can have eight various shades of color by just turning it on or off since each pixel creates colors by altering the R, G, and B sub-pixels. The number of color options for a pixel rapidly grows as a gradation is added.
3bit = 23 =8 colors | 8bit = 28 = 256 colors | 24bit = 224 = 16.78M colors
A much wider tonal range can be smoothly expressed on displays with higher color depth.
