Short for Color Graphics Adapter, CGA was an early IBM video adapter that replaced monochrome and was first introduced in 1981. CGA has the highest resolution of 640 x 200, color depth of 4-bit, and supports 16 colors (24 = 16).

In the picture shown on this page, you can get a good example of the quality of what CGA could produce using its limited 16 colors compared to the original image. In our example, we have converted the original image to use the 16 colors shown in the below color palette.

Today, CGA is rarely found or used after being replaced by more advanced technologies like EGA and VGA.

CGA 16 color palette

Color, Color terms, Computer acronyms, EGA, SVGA, VGA, Video terms

Microsoft Windows only supported CGA up to Windows 3.0, but Windows 3.1 can use Windows 3.0 CGA drivers.

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