Color Palette

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Do not argue about the spelling of color / colour. It's a really stupid distinction.

A color palette (also colour palette, or just palette) is an array of colors from which an artist may choose to create an image. They are a vital concept in pixel art and especially in spriting.

In the scope of computer graphics, the palette may be either a limit upon the image's maximum allotted colors due to its filetype, or an arbitrary limit set by the artist or by a client who commissions work from said artist.

In days long past, games and other applications were sorely limited in the maximum number of colors that could be displayed upon the screen at once, or within a single graphic. Most modern games, commercial or otherwise, have no such technological limitation, but may use palettes for ease of graphic creation, for stylistic or retro purposes, or for space - assigning a strict palette to an image will reduce its filesize compared to leaving it in true color.

See Also

• Sprite
• List of Color Palettes