a typical video card uses a color depth of 8 bits to define the screen color in safe mode in windows. eight bits can form 256 different numbers from 00000000 to 11111111 in binary (0 to 255 in decimal), so 256 different colors are possible. how many colors are available with a 16-bit color depth? how many are available with a 24-bit or a 32-bit depth?
A 16-bit color depth can define 65,536 different colors (2^16).
A 24-bit color depth can define 16,777,216 different colors (2^24).
A 32-bit color depth can define 4,294,967,296 different colors (2^32).
With a 16-bit color depth, 2^16 different numbers can be represented in binary, which is equal to 65,536. Therefore, there are 65,536 different colors available.
With a 24-bit color depth, 2^24 different numbers can be represented in binary, which is equal to 16,777,216. Therefore, there are 16,777,216 different colors available.
With a 32-bit color depth, 2^32 different numbers can be represented in binary, which is equal to 4,294,967,296. Therefore, there are 4,294,967,296 different colors available.