dithering

Dithering is the attempt by a computer program to approximate a color from a mixture of other colors when the required color is not available. For example, dithering occurs when a color is specified for a Web page that a browser on a particular operating system can't support. The browser will then attempt to replace the requested color with an approximation composed of two or more other colors it can produce. The result may or may not be acceptable to the graphic designer. It may also appear somewhat grainy since it's composed of different pixel intensities rather than a single intensity over the colored space.

To understand the colors available with Web browsers, see palette. Also see 216-color browser-safe palette.

Dithering also occurs when a display monitor attempts to display images specified with more colors than the monitor is equipped to handle.

Dithering is rather easy to confuse with antialiasing.