This is a list of software palettes used by computers. Systems that use a 4-bit or 8-bit pixel depth can display up to 16 or 256 colors simultaneously. Many personal computers in the early 1990s displayed at most 256 different colors, freely selected by software (either by the user or by a program) from their wider hardware's RGB color palette.
Usual selections of colors in limited subsets (generally 16 or 256) of the full palette includes some RGB level arrangements commonly used with the 8-bit palettes as master palettes or universal palettes (i.e., palettes for multipurpose uses).
These are some representative software palettes, but any selection can be made in such of systems.
For specific hardware color palettes, see the list of monochrome and RGB palettes, list of 8-bit computer hardware graphics, the list of 16-bit computer hardware graphics and the list of video game console palettes articles.
Each palette is represented by an array of color patches. A one-pixel size version appears below each palette, to make it easy to compare palette sizes.
For each unique palette, an image color test chart and sample image (truecolor original follows) rendered with that palette (without dithering) are given. The test chart shows the full 8-bit, 256 levels of the red, green, and blue (RGB) primary colors and cyan, magenta, and yellow complementary colors, along with a full 8-bit, 256 levels grayscale. Gradients of RGB intermediate colors (orange, lime green, sea green, sky blue, violet and fuchsia), and a full HSL hue-lightness spectrum are also present. Color charts are not linear; the maintain the gamma correction of the parent color space (rendered here as sRGB).
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These elements illustrate the color depth and distribution of the colors of any given palette, and the sample image indicates how the color selection of such palettes could represent real-life images.
System specifics
These are selections of colors officially employed as system palettes in some popular operating systems for personal computers that support 8-bit displays.
Microsoft Windows and IBM OS/2 default 16-color palette
Used by these platforms as a roughly backward compatible palette for the CGA, EGA and VGA text modes, but with colors arranged in a different order. Also, is the default palette for 16 color icons.
The corresponding indices into this palette are:
{| class="wikitable" | style="background:black; color:white"| 0 — black | style="background:gray; color:white"| 8 — gray |- style="color:white;" | style="background:maroon; color:white"| 1 — maroon | style="background:red;"| 9 — red |- style="color:white;" | style="background:green; color:white"| 2 — green | style="background:lime;"| 10 — lime |- | style="color:white; background:olive;"| 3 — olive | style="color:black; background:yellow;"| 11 — yellow |- style="color:white;" | style="background:navy; color:white"| 4 — navy | style="background:blue; color:white"| 12 — blue |- style="color:white;" | style="background:purple; color:white"| 5 — purple | style="background:fuchsia;"| 13 — fuchsia |- | style="color:white; background:teal;"| 6 — teal | style="color:black; background:aqua;"| 14 — aqua |- style="color:black;" | style="background:silver;"| 7 — silver | style="background:white;"| 15 — white
Microsoft Windows default 20-color palette
In 256-color mode, there are four additional standard Windows colors, twenty system reserved colors in total;The Palette Manager: How and Why It Does What It Does, the article is in Windows Write file inside self-extracting archive. thus the system leaves 236 palette indexes free for applications to use. The system color entries inside a 256-color palette table are the first ten plus the last ten. In any case, the additional system colors do not seem to add a sharp color richness: they are only some intermediate shades of grayish colors.
Since Windows 95, these additional colors can be changed by the system when a color scheme needs custom colors, reducing their utility as static, unchanging palette entries.
The complete 20-color Windows system palette is:
{| class="wikitable" |- | style="color:white; background:#000;"| 0 — black | style="color:black; background:#fffbf0;"| 246 — cream |- | style="color:white; background:maroon;"| 1 — dark red | style="color:black; background:#a0a0a4;"| 247 — medium grey |- style="color:white;" | style="background:green; color:white"| 2 — dark green | style="background:gray; color:white"| 248 — dark grey |- style="color:white;" | style="background:olive;"| 3 — dark yellow | style="background:#f00;"| 249 — red |- style="color:white;" | style="background:navy;"| 4 — dark blue | style="background:#0f0;"| 250 — green |- | style="color:white; background:purple;"| 5 — dark magenta | style="color:black; background:#ff0;"| 251 — yellow |- style="color:white;" | style="background:teal;"| 6 — dark cyan | style="background:#00f; color:white"| 252 — blue |- | style="color:black; background:silver;"| 7 — light grey | style="color:white; background:#f0f;"| 253 — magenta |- style="color:black;" | style="background:#c0dcc0;"| 8 — money green | style="background:#0ff;"| 254 — cyan |- style="color:black;" | style="background:#a6caf0;"| 9 — sky blue | style="background:#fff;"| 255 — white
Apple Macintosh default 16-color palette
When Apple Computer introduced the Macintosh II in 1987, this 16-color palette was included in System 4.1. Note that these colors have been converted from the original Apple "Generic RGB Profile" with its 1.8 gamma to Display P3 for accurate viewing on modern displays.
{| class="wikitable" |- | style="color:black; background:color(display-p3 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 65535 65535 65535 */;"| 0 — white | style="color:white; background:color(display-p3 0.3486 0.7385 0.2390) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 7969 46995 5169 */;"| 8 — green |- | style="color:black; background:color(display-p3 0.9808 0.9491 0.3115) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 64512 62333 1327 */;"| 1 — yellow | style="color:white; background:color(display-p3 0.1806 0.4504 0.1514) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 0 25775 4528 */;"| 9 — dark green |- | style="color:black; background:color(display-p3 0.9424 0.5097 0.1908) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 65535 25738 652 */;"| 2 — orange | style="color:white; background:color(display-p3 0.3888 0.2398 0.0741) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 22016 11421 1316 */;"| 10 — brown
| style="color:white; background:color(display-p3 0.8280 0.2289 0.1282) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 56683 2242 1698 */;"| 3 — red | style="color:white; background:color(display-p3 0.6164 0.5195 0.3233) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 37079 29024 14900 */;"| 11 — tan |- | style="color:white; background:color(display-p3 0.8923 0.2709 0.5815) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 62167 2134 34028 */;"| 4 — magenta | style="color:black; background:color(display-p3 0.7953 0.7953 0.7953) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 49152 49152 49152 */;"| 12 — light grey
| style="color:white; background:color(display-p3 0.3265 0.1499 0.6787) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 18147 0 42302 */;"| 5 — purple | style="color:white; background:color(display-p3 0.5723 0.5723 0.5723) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 32768 32768 32768 */;"| 13 — medium grey
| style="color:white; background:color(display-p3 0.0600 0.1619 0.8279) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 0 0 54272 */;"| 6 — blue | style="color:white; background:color(display-p3 0.3180 0.3180 0.3180) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 16384 16384 16384 */;"| 14 — dark grey |- | style="color:black; background:color(display-p3 0.3084 0.7163 0.9151) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 577 43860 60159 */;"| 7 — cyan | style="color:white; background:color(display-p3 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000) /* Apple Generic RGB Profile: 0 0 0*/;"| 15 — black
The Apple RGB encoding predates sRGB. It uses a different gamma of 1.8 and typically has 16 bits per channel (see ). A proper conversion can be performed using the ICC profiles for Apple RGB and sRGB.
RISC OS default palette
Acorn RISC OS 2.x and 3.x provided this 16-color palette:House of Mabel: RISC OS 2
{| class="wikitable" |- | style="color:black; background:#fff;"| 0 — white | style="color:white; background:#049;"| 8 — dark blue |- style="color:black;" | style="background:#ddd;"| 1 — grey #1 | style="background:#ee0;"| 9 — yellow |- | style="color:black; background:#bbb;"| 2 — grey #2 | style="color:white; background:#0c0;"| 10 — green |- | style="color:black; background:#999;"| 3 — grey #3 | style="color:white; background:#d00;"| 11 — red |- | style="color:white; background:#777;"| 4 — grey #4 | style="color:black; background:#eeb;"| 12 — beige |- style="color:white;" | style="background:#555; color:white"| 5 — grey #5 | style="background:#558800; color:white"| 13 — dark green |- | style="color:white; background:#333;"| 6 — grey #6 | style="color:black; background:#fb0;"| 14 — gold/orange |- | style="color:white; background:#000;"| 7 — black | style="color:black; background:#0bf;"| 15 — light blue
Solaris default 16-color palette
+ Solaris OS used this color palette: {| class="wikitable"
| style="color:white; background:#000000;"| 0 — black | style="color:black; background:#9F9F9F;"| 8 — dark gray |- | style="color:black; background:#FF0000;"| 1 — red | style="color:black; background:#FF7F7F;"| 9 — pink |- | style="color:black; background:#00FF00;"| 2 — green | style="color:black; background:#7FFF7F;"| 10 — pale green |- | style="color:white; background:#BF7F00;"| 3 — brown | style="color:black; background:#FFFF00;"| 11 — yellow |- | style="color:white; background:#0000FF;"| 4 — blue | style="color:black; background:#7F7FFF;"| 12 — slate blue
| style="color:black; background:#FF00FF;"| 5 — magenta | style="color:black; background:#FF7FFF;"| 13 — orchid |- | style="color:black; background:#00FFFF;"| 6 — cyan | style="color:black; background:#7FFFFF;"| 14 — aquamarine |- | style="color:black; background:#CFCFCF;"| 7 — gray | style="color:black; background:#FFFFFF;"| 15 — white
RGB arrangements
These are selections of colors based in evenly ordered RGB levels which provide complete RGB combinations, mainly used as master palettes to display any kind of image within the limitations of the 8-bit pixel depth.
6 level RGB
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{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |- ! style="width: 3pc;" | Red | style="color:white; background:#000; width:5pc;"| #000000 | style="color:white; background:#300; width:5pc;"| #330000 | style="color:white; background:#600; width:5pc;"| #660000 | style="color:white; background:#900; width:5pc;"| #990000 | style="color:white; background:#c00; width:5pc;"| #CC0000 | style="color:white; background:#f00; width:5pc;"| #FF0000 |- ! style="width: 3pc;" | Green | style="color:white; background:#000; width:5pc;"| #000000 | style="color:white; background:#030; width:5pc;"| #003300 | style="color:white; background:#060; width:5pc;"| #006600 | style="color:white; background:#090; width:5pc;"| #009900 | style="color:white; background:#0c0; width:5pc;"| #00CC00 | style="color:white; background:#0f0; width:5pc;"| #00FF00 |- ! style="width: 3pc;" | Blue | style="color:white; background:#000; width:5pc;"| #000000 | style="color:white; background:#003; width:5pc;"| #000033 | style="color:white; background:#006; width:5pc;"| #000066 | style="color:white; background:#009; width:5pc;"| #000099 | style="color:white; background:#00c; width:5pc;"| #0000CC | style="color:white; background:#00f; width:5pc;"| #0000FF
Having six levels for every primary, with 6³ = 216 combinations. The index can be addressed by (36×R)+(6×G)+B, with all R, G and B values in a range from 0 to 5. Intended as homogeneous RGB cube, it gives six true grays. Also, there is room for another sorts of 40 colors, so operating systems or programs can add extra colors.
Systems that use this software palette are: