Directcolor

The frame buffer pixel value is divided into three fields; one for each primary colour and each of the fields selects an entry in a separate lookup table each of which holds the intensity of the appropriate primary colour. A typical configuration is a frame buffer with 24 bits per pixel divided into three 8 bit fields each of which addresses a 256 entry colour table with 8 bits per entry. Such a configuration will be described by a manufacturer as supporting 2$^{24}$ (16 million) colours out of a palette of 16 million.