Editing Pixel (section)

===Bits per pixel===
{{Main|Color depth}}

The number of distinct colors that can be represented by a pixel depends on the number of bits per pixel (bpp). A 1 bpp image uses 1 bit for each pixel, so each pixel can be either on or off. Each additional bit doubles the number of colors available, so a 2 bpp image can have 4 colors, and a 3 bpp image can have 8 colors:
* 1 bpp, 2<sup>1</sup> = 2 colors ([[binary image|monochrome]])
* 2 bpp, 2<sup>2</sup> = 4 colors
* 3 bpp, 2<sup>3</sup> = 8 colors
* 4 bpp, 2<sup>4</sup> = 16 colors
* 8 bpp, 2<sup>8</sup> = 256 colors
* 16 bpp, 2<sup>16</sup> = 65,536 colors ("[[Highcolor]]" )
* 24 bpp, 2<sup>24</sup> = 16,777,216 colors ("[[24-bit color|Truecolor]]")

For color depths of 15 or more bits per pixel, the depth is normally the sum of the bits allocated to each of the red, green, and blue components. [[Highcolor]], usually meaning 16 bpp, normally has five bits for red and blue each, and six bits for green, as the human eye is more sensitive to errors in green than in the other two primary colors. For applications involving transparency, the 16 bits may be divided into five bits each of red, green, and blue, with one bit left for transparency. A 24-bit depth allows 8 bits per component. On some systems, 32-bit depth is available: this means that each 24-bit pixel has an extra 8 bits to describe its [[Opacity (optics)|opacity]] (for purposes of combining with another image).