Color image quantization for frame buffer display

Algorithms for adaptive, tapered quantization of color images are described. The research is motivated by the desire to display high-quality reproductions of color images with small frame buffers. It is demonstrated that many color images which would normally require a frame buffer having 15 bits per pixel can be quantized to 8 or fewer bits per pixel with little subjective degradation. In most cases, the resulting images look significantly better than those made with uniform quantization.