Site icon

Dithering

Dithering can decrease a file size by a great deal. This photo with three-color dithering is 14KB, 35x smaller than the original which was 500KB. Click to see the original.

Passengers waiting for a yellow train in snowy winter, rendered in low resolution with dark, light, and yellow dots. Passengers waiting for a yellow train in snowy winter, rendered in low resolution with dark, light, and yellow dots.

The eastbound Kate Shelley 400 arriving at DeKalb in December 1964. Photo by Roger Puta.

Dithering reduced this photo of a house from 1.7MB to 30KB. Even with 4 colors, it’s 56x times smaller.

The side of a vine-covered house with a spiral staircase, obscured by vegetation, rendered in low resolution with dark, light, orange, and green dots. The side of a vine-covered house with a spiral staircase, obscured by vegetation, rendered in low resolution with dark, light, orange, and green dots.

A vine covered house. Photo by me.