RGB255

Rgb255 is a common nomenclature for encoding colors in the RGB color model where each color channel—red, green, and blue—is stored as an 8-bit integer in the range 0 to 255. Together, the three channels form a 24-bit color value, often referred to as true color. This representation contrasts with floating-point or normalized forms where channel values range from 0.0 to 1.0.

In practice, rgb255 is widely used in image files, graphics APIs, and web technologies. CSS and many programming interfaces accept color specifications as decimal triplets rgb(r, g, b) with r, g, b in 0–255, or as hex codes that map to 00–FF per channel. Many image and video formats store pixels as 24-bit RGB, and in some cases, an alpha channel is added to form 32-bit RGBA, with 8 bits per channel.

Storage considerations typically treat rgb255 as three unsigned 8-bit values per pixel. In memory, the triple may be packed as 0xRRGGBB or laid out as separate bytes in a pixel structure, and the same semantic values apply across systems, independent of endianness.

Advantages of rgb255 include straightforward integer arithmetic, compact storage for millions of colors, and broad compatibility across software and hardware. Limitations involve color banding due to limited discrete steps, reduced precision compared to higher-bit or floating-point per-channel representations, and the need for gamma correction to maintain perceptual accuracy when performing linear-light operations.

Common related concepts include sRGB color space, hexadecimal color notation, and RGBA color with an alpha channel.