High Color

High Color is a term from computer technology and refers to a color depth ( maximum number of simultaneously displayable colors ). With High Color with Windows (16 -bit color depth, 216 = 65,536 colors) are usually five bits each for the components red and blue, and six bits for green ( because the human eye it is most sensitive ) are reserved and determined by additive color mixing the resulting color. Macintosh computers can display color depth contrast in high-color mode, only 15 bits, ie 215 = 32,768 colors.

For many applications, this color depth is sufficient. Especially in color gradients, photos and movies, it may lead to visible gradations; To work around this, true color you need (in this case there are no differences from Windows to Macintosh). High Color is rarely used today, except partially for computer games, as it can allow the reduced amount of data to be treated for a quick Capture over TrueColor and so smoother moving images.

High Color is mainly used as the display format for graphics cards; most graphics formats do not support High Color. An exception is Windows bitmap with so-called " bit masks " Under this format is only supported by a few applications.

• Computer Graphics