page_title: Image editing
section_title: Change color depth
hierarchical_section_title: Image editing / Image editor features / Change color depth
context_page_description: Image editing encompasses the processes of altering images, whether they are digital photographs, traditional photo-chemical photographs, or illustrations. Traditional analog image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such as an airbrush to modify photographs or editing illustrations with any traditional art medium. Graphic software programs, which can be broadly grouped into vector graphics editors, raster graphics editors, and 3D modelers, are the primary tools with which a user may manipulate, enhance, and transform images. Many image editing programs are also used to render or create computer art from scratch.
context_section_description: It is possible, using the software, to change the color depth of images. Common color depths are 2, 4, 16, 256, 65,536 and 16.7 million colors. The JPEG and PNG image formats are capable of storing 16.7 million colors (equal to 256 luminance values per color channel). In addition, grayscale images of 8 bits or less can be created, usually via conversion and down-sampling from a full-color image.  Grayscale conversion is useful for reducing the file size dramatically when the original photographic print was monochrome, but a color tint has been introduced due to aging effects.
caption: An example of converting an image from color to grayscale
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