Retro Colour Palettes

Every palette in the 8-bit photo converter is borrowed from a real machine, or in PICO-8's case a carefully designed imaginary one. These reference pages list the exact colours the tool uses, as hex and RGB, explain where each palette came from and how the hardware actually used it, and show the same test image converted with each one so you can compare them properly.

Published 5 September 2026

At a glance

PaletteMachineYearColoursHow the tool mapsBest for
Game BoyNintendo Game Boy19894 greensBrightness bandsPortraits, silhouettes, Game Boy Camera look
NESNintendo Entertainment System1983 / 198555Nearest colourPhotos that should still look like photos
ZX SpectrumSinclair ZX Spectrum198215Nearest colourBold, saturated, poster-like images
PICO-8PICO-8 fantasy console201516Nearest colourAvatars, warm scenes, modern indie look
Commodore 64Commodore 64198216Nearest colourSkin tones, interiors, cosy everyday photos
CGAIBM PC19814Nearest colourHigh contrast, neon, graphic shapes
Black & White1-bit displays2Brightness thresholdExtreme contrast, stamps, icons
Original coloursAllNone (pixelation only)Clean, modern pixelation

The same scene in every palette

This is a synthetic test scene, a gradient sky, hills, sea, five shaded spheres and a grey and hue ramp along the bottom, chosen because it exercises everything a palette has to cope with: smooth gradients, saturated colours, subtle shading and neutral greys. Every version below was made with the converter at a pixel size of 6.

Test scene before conversion
SOURCE
Test scene pixelated with original colours
ORIGINAL COLOURS
Test scene in the Game Boy palette
GAME BOY
Test scene in the NES palette
NES
Test scene in the ZX Spectrum palette
ZX SPECTRUM
Test scene in the PICO-8 palette
PICO-8
Test scene in the Commodore 64 palette
COMMODORE 64
Test scene in the CGA palette
CGA
Test scene in black and white
BLACK & WHITE

Palette reference pages

Test scene converted to the Game Boy palette

GAME BOY

Four shades of green. 4 colours.

 Test scene converted to the NES palette

NES

The 8-bit console palette. 55 colours.

 Test scene converted to the ZX Spectrum palette

ZX SPECTRUM

Fifteen bright colours. 15 colours.

 Test scene converted to the PICO-8 palette

PICO-8

The modern fantasy-console palette. 16 colours.

 Test scene converted to the Commodore 64 palette

COMMODORE 64

Sixteen warm, characterful colours. 16 colours.

 Test scene converted to the CGA palette

CGA

Cyan, magenta, white and black. 4 colours.

How the tool applies a palette

For most palettes the converter shrinks your photo into blocks, then replaces each block's colour with the closest one in the list, measured as a straight-line distance between the red, green and blue values. Game Boy and Black & White work differently: they look only at brightness and pick a shade from fixed bands. There is no dithering, so areas of flat colour stay flat. The how the converter works guide goes through all of it, including why the C64 turns some skies grey and why the Spectrum makes everything shout.

Choosing between them

If you only remember one rule: the fewer colours a palette has, the more your photo needs strong contrast and a simple subject. NES and PICO-8 are forgiving and keep photos recognisable. Commodore 64 flatters warm subjects and skin. ZX Spectrum and CGA are for bold, graphic results. Game Boy is for anything you want to look like it came out of a handheld in 1989. The palette comparison guide goes deeper, and every palette is one click away in the converter, so the quickest way to decide is to try three.

All eight palettes, free, in your browser. Your photo never leaves your device.

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