A fast algorithm for choosing the proper palette in real-image representation

In many applications the problem of representing real images on the computer screen arises. Certain difficulties arise because of the small number of colours that can be shown simultaneously on the screen. Most graphics cards, such as VGA and its extensions, provide only 256 simultaneously displayed colours. On the other hand, algorithms that can select 256 colours are important in displaying video on a computer screen, because the amount of data transferred can be reduced at least by a half. It is necessary to choose the proper colours depending on the image. The report deals with an image-dependent colour-quantization algorithm reducing the number of colours to 256. On an IBM-PC computer with Intel-80386sx 16 MHz processor it takes less than 30 seconds to produce a 512×512-pixel picture