Bandingartefakteina

Bandingartefakteina is a term used in digital imaging to describe visible banding in color gradients. It refers to the appearance of discrete stripes or steps where smooth transitions are expected, typically in skies, shadows, or other large uniform areas. The concept is a composite term rather than a formal standard, and it is more commonly discussed in practitioner communities than in peer‑reviewed literature.

Causes of bandingartefakteina include limited color depth (most commonly 8-bit per channel), which quantizes continuous color values into a finite set of levels. Other contributing factors are lossy compression, color space conversions, and display limitations. Chroma subsampling, gamma encoding, and aggressive tone mapping can also reveal or worsen banding, especially in gradient-heavy content or rough grading workflows.

Manifestations vary by content and workflow but typically appear as stepped transitions in blue or green gradients, skies, and midtone regions. Banding can be more noticeable in dark or highly saturated gradients and may become apparent after heavy post-processing or compression.

Detection and mitigation strategies aim to preserve or restore gradient smoothness. Increasing bit depth (to 12–16 bits per channel, or working with RAW/linear data) reduces quantization. Dithering, noise addition, or selective grain can break uniform bands. Use higher‑quality codecs and maintain a linear workflow; avoid excessive compression and ensure color space and gamma are managed consistently. In video, using 10–12 bit pipelines and 4:4:4 chroma sampling helps. Calibrated displays and careful grading also reduce perceived banding.

Bandingartefakteina thus highlights a common limitation in digital media production, with practical remedies centered on depth, processing discipline, and display fidelity.