page_title: Subpixel rendering
hierarchical_section_title: Subpixel rendering
caption_attribution_description: English: This is an illustration of subpixel rendering. The first column displays the original text at 100% size. A part of the text has been magnified 600% (each pixel in the magnification is 6×6 pixels) in a regular image editing program. The upper image does not use subpixel rendering, but does use anti-aliasing. It is completely gray-scale. The lower does use subpixel rendering. At the edges of the strokes of the letters there is noticeable colour deviations. The normal-sized subpixel rendered text should appear significantly sharper than the regularly rendered text, but only on a TFT display with RGB subpixels in that exact order. The second column displays the pixels as they would look if one enlarged an image of the monitor. The white pixels do not appear white, since the display elements are red, green and blue. In the regular rendition, the red, green and blue pixels are only controlled in triplets, i.e. a triplet of subpixels must have the same colour value. There is no such restriction in the subpixel rendered version, below. The third column shows, enlarged, how the text is perceived when the light from the red, green and blue pixels mix and form various shades of gray. The text was generated by the Quartz engine used by Mac OS X. Microsoft's ClearType subpixel rendering technology would have produced slightly different results, but the principle is the same. The font used for the example is Optima. Helvetica Neue is used for the labels.
context_page_description: Subpixel rendering is a way to increase the apparent resolution of a computer's liquid crystal display or organic light-emitting diode display by rendering pixels to take into account the screen type's physical properties. It takes advantage of the fact that each pixel on a color LCD is actually composed of individual red, green, and blue or other color subpixels to anti-alias text with greater detail or to increase the resolution of all image types on layouts which are specifically designed to be compatible with subpixel rendering.
context_section_description: Subpixel rendering is a way to increase the apparent resolution of a computer's liquid crystal display (LCD) or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display by rendering pixels to take into account the screen type's physical properties. It takes advantage of the fact that each pixel on a color LCD is actually composed of individual red, green, and blue or other color subpixels to anti-alias text with greater detail or to increase the resolution of all image types on layouts which are specifically designed to be compatible with subpixel rendering.
caption: Subpixel rendering works by increasing the luminance reconstruction points of a color subpixelated screen, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display. This thumbnail image is downsized and does not show the technique. Click to see the full-size image.
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