Subpixel rendering decomposes a pixel into its component colors to create smoother curves and angles on computer displays. It is commonly used for font rendering but may not work on all displays due to variations in display technology. Standardization is difficult due to inconsistencies in display hardware.
Subpixel rendering is the process of using computer software to decompose a single pixel on a computer screen into its component colors which, in various intensities, combine to create the perceived color. The result of using subpixels to render an image is that angles and curves will appear smoother because display units smaller than a standard pixel are used to fill areas where there might otherwise only be a solid pixel or no pixels. The subpixel rendering process is often used to improve the appearance of fonts on computer displays. Other applications, such as sharpening an image or improving the appearance of vector graphics, have also been developed, but do not enjoy the widespread use of fonts.
The basic premise behind subpixel rendering has to do with how some monitors display information, especially liquid crystal displays (LCDs). When an image is drawn on the screen, it is made up of many small dots known as pixels. Each of these pixels can be one of millions of colors, depending on the display technology. The single pixel that most users see as just a single dot is actually made up of three or more smaller dots, each of which can only glow in a single color, usually red, green, or blue. The combination of these colors determines the final color which is seen as a single pixel.
By manipulating subpixels by a larger pixel, you can achieve smoother gradations when rendering an image. The end result is that space that wouldn’t normally be occupied by a full pixel can only be partially filled with a subpixel, creating the illusion of a smooth line. Subpixel rendering is often compared to another image processing technique known as anti-aliasing, which can sometimes achieve the same effect, though usually on a larger scale.
One complication that can make subpixel rendering ineffective is the specifics of the display technology used. While many LCD monitors arrange their pixels in a red, green, and blue sequence, not all of them do. Some instead have the colors blue, red and green. This could cause a subpixel rendering algorithm to incorrectly activate certain pixels. The result of text rendering in this type of environment is a faint, but visible area of color around the primary pixels in a letter that actually degrades the quality of the text.
Inconsistencies in display hardware can also make it difficult to implement any standardization of subpixel rendering in displaying color images. There are some algorithms, especially for situations where images are scaled or changed for quality, although these improvements are not guaranteed to translate to another computer using a different monitor. Several operating systems, however, attempt to use subpixel rendering for text display by default, although the observer’s eyesight may also play a role in whether this is a desirable effect.
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