Generally, "n bit" describes the color depth of an image by the number of bits used to store the color information of a pixel.
Some common formats:
1 bit .... b/w (foreground or background color set per pixel)
4 bit .... 16 colors (indexed color palette or 16 shades of grey in 1 channel)
8 bit .... 256 colors (indexed color palette or 1-channel greyscale image)
12 bit ... 16 x 16 x 16 colors, 3 color channels at 4 bits for 4,096 colors total
24 bit ... 256 x 256 x 256 colors, 3 color channels at 8 bits for 16,777,216 colors total
32 bit ... as above, but including an extra alpha channel (mask) for 256 levels of transparency
There are also high-resolution color modes (e.g. in Photoshop) using either 16 bits or even 32 bits per color channel. (So 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit may also describe the depth for each individual color channel in imaging software.)
"8-bit" is also used for graphics on 8-bit computers, most often a palette of 8 or 16 indexed colors in some sort of sub-palette (e.g., 2 bit = 4 out of 8 or 16 colors), in rare cases even 128 colors (like on the Atari 2600). Here, "8-bit" relates to the platform and not to image depth or a specific implementation.
If you transmitted it one pixel at a time left to right top to bottom scan, or boudestrophon l r l r l r if you prefer then the pixel stream would equal a 1 bit value toggling on or off.
Generally, "n bit" describes the color depth of an image by the number of bits used to store the color information of a pixel.
Some common formats:
There are also high-resolution color modes (e.g. in Photoshop) using either 16 bits or even 32 bits per color channel. (So 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit may also describe the depth for each individual color channel in imaging software.)
"8-bit" is also used for graphics on 8-bit computers, most often a palette of 8 or 16 indexed colors in some sort of sub-palette (e.g., 2 bit = 4 out of 8 or 16 colors), in rare cases even 128 colors (like on the Atari 2600). Here, "8-bit" relates to the platform and not to image depth or a specific implementation.
Every pixel has 1 bit of color depth, basically black or white.
2 colors per pixel - black or white.
If you transmitted it one pixel at a time left to right top to bottom scan, or boudestrophon l r l r l r if you prefer then the pixel stream would equal a 1 bit value toggling on or off.
The property that a good font should have: on or off, present or not present.