Bit-Depth

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Bit depth refers to the color information stored in an image. The higher the bit depth of an image, the more colors it can store. The simplest image, a 1-bit image, can only show two colors, while a 24-bit image can display over 16 million colors. As the bit depth increases, the file size of the image also increases because more color information has to be stored for each pixel in the image. Bit depth may also refer to the number of bits of tonal range capability of the spots of an output device or printer.