Improved Atkinson Dithering: Arbitrary Palettes and Linearization

2025-03-13
Improved Atkinson Dithering: Arbitrary Palettes and Linearization

This post details an improved Atkinson dithering algorithm that supports arbitrary color palettes and correct linearization. Unlike previous algorithms limited to black and white palettes, this one directly handles color images, selecting the closest color by computing the Euclidean distance between the pixel and each color in the palette. Furthermore, it incorporates linearization to address overly bright outputs caused by the non-linearity of the sRGB color space, and considers human perception of different color brightnesses. The post also provides links to relevant resources, including implementations and online tools.

Development dithering algorithm