Introduction to Multimedia
By Wissal
9/24/2025
Mr. Wissal
1
Multimedia Images & Graphics
An image consists of a rectangular array of dots called pixels.
The size of the image is specified in terms of width X height, in numbers of the pixels.
The physical size of the image, in inches or centimeters, depends on the resolution of the
device on which the image is displayed.
The resolution is usually measured in DPI (Dots Per Inch).
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Multimedia Images & Graphics
For color images, one needs enough bits per pixel to represent all the colors in the image.
The number of the bits per pixel is called the depth of the image> .
An image will appear smaller on a device with a higher resolution than on one with a lower
resolution.
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Image Data Types
Images can be created by using different techniques of representation of data called data type like
monochrome and colored images.
Monochrome image is created by using single color whereas colored image is created by using
multiple colors.
A monochrome image is an image that consists of varying shades of a single color, typically black
and white. The term "monochrome" comes from the Greek words "mono," meaning "one," and
"chroma," meaning "color."
Some important data types of images are following:
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Image Data Types
1-bit images:
An image is a set of pixels. Note that a pixel is a picture element in digital image.
In 1-bit images, each pixel is stored as a single bit (0 or 1).
A bit has only two states either on or off, white or black, true or false.
Therefore, such an image is also referred to as a binary image, since only two states are available.
1-bit image is also known as 1-bit monochrome images because it contains one color that is black for
off state and white for on state.
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Image Data Types
1-bit images
A 1-bit image with resolution 640*480 needs a storage space of 640*480 bits.
640 x 480 bits. 640*480/8=38400
1kb =1024 bytes 38400/1024=37.5kb
(640 x 480) / 8 bytes = 38400 (38400/ 1024) KB= 37.5KB.
The clarity or quality of 1-bit image is very low.
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Image Data Types
8-bit Gray Level Images:
Each pixel of 8-bit gray level image is represented by a single byte (8 bits).
Therefore each pixel of such image can hold 28=256 values between 0 and 255.
Therefore each pixel has a brightness value on a scale from black (0 for no brightness or
intensity) to white (255 for full brightness or intensity).
For example, a dark pixel might have a value of 15 and a bright one might be 240
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Image Data Types
Grayscale
A grayscale digital image is an image in which the value of each pixel is a single sample, which
carries intensity information.
Images are composed exclusively of gray shades, which vary from black being at the weakest
intensity to white being at the strongest.
Grayscale images carry many shades of gray from black to white.
Grayscale images are also called monochromatic, denoting the presence of only one (mono)
color (chrome).
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Image Data Types
An image is represented by bitmap. A bitmap is a simple matrix of the tiny dots (pixels)
that form an image and are displayed on a computer screen or printed.
A 8-bit image with resolution 640 x 480 needs a storage space of 640 x 480 bytes=(640 x
480)/1024 KB= 300KB.
Therefore an 8-bit image needs 8 times more storage space than 1-bit image.
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Image Data Types
24-bit Color Images:
In 24-bit color image, each pixel is represented by three bytes, usually representing RGB (Red, Green and
Blue).
Usually true color is defined to mean 256 shades of RGB (Red, Green and Blue) for a total of 16777216 color
variations.
It provides a method of representing and storing graphical image information an RGB color space such that a
colors, shades and hues in large number of variations can be displayed in an image such as in high quality
photo graphic images or complex graphics
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Image Data Types
Many 24-bit color images are stored as 32-bit images, and an extra byte for each pixel used to store an alpha
value representing special effect information.
A 24-bit color image with resolution 640 x 480 needs a storage space of 640 x 480 x 3 bytes = (640 x 480 x 3) /
1024=900KB without any compression.
Also 32-bit color image with resolution 640 x 480 needs a storage space of 640 x 480 x 4 bytes= 1200KB without
any compression.
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Image Data Types
8-bit Color Images:
• 8-bit color graphics is a method of storing image information in a computer's memory or in an image file,
where one byte (8 bits) represents each pixel. The maximum number of colors that can be displayed at once is
256. 8-bit color graphics are of two forms. The first form is where the image stores not color but an 8-bit index
into the color map for each pixel, instead of storing the full 24-bit color value.
• Therefore, 8-bit image formats consists of two parts: a color map describing what colors are present in the
image and the array of index values for each pixel in the image.
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Image Data Types
In most color maps each color is usually chosen from a palette of 16,777,216 colors (24 bits: 8 red, 8green, 8
blue).
The other form is where the 8-bits use 3 bits for red, 3 bits for green and 2 bits for blue.
This second form is often called 8-bit true color as it does not use a palette at all.
When a 24-bit full color image is turned into an 8-bit image, some of the colors have to be eliminated, known
as color quantization process.
A 8-bit color image with resolution 640 x 480 needs a storage space of 640 x 480 bytes=(640 x 480) / 1024KB=
300KB without any compression.
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Color Lookup Tables
A color loop-up table (LUT) is a mechanism used to transform a range of input colors into another
range of colors.
Color look-up table will convert the logical color numbers stored in each pixel of video memory
into physical colors, represented as RGB triplets, which can be displayed on a computer monitor.
Each pixel of image stores only index value or logical color number.
For example if a pixel stores the value 30, the meaning is to go to row 30 in a color look-up table
(LUT). The LUT is often called a Palette.
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Color Lookup Tables
A lookup table (LUT) is a data structure that maps input values to output values, commonly used in various
fields such as image processing, computer graphics, and data analysis. LUTs allow for quick transformations
and operations without recalculating values repeatedly.
Example of a Lookup Table
Let's consider a simple example of a 1D LUT for brightness adjustment in grayscale images. The input values
range from 0 (black) to 255 (white), and the LUT will increase the brightness by a fixed amount.
Original Values
Input: 0, 1, 2, ..., 255
LUT for Brightness Increase of 50
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THANK YOU
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