Pixels

Each pixel’s colour could be defined by sorting its assosiated index number instead of the longer RGB value. This look-up table was more efficient in handling images with up to 256 colours because each pixel can be stored in 8-bits instead of 24. Microsoft was successful in futher optimising the BMP format by tying it even more closely to Windows’ API, adding features like control over which occurs to change when images are viewed on limited colour screens.

~ by rmandaba on November 15, 2007.