Bit

Every digital image you see on a monitor is ultimately broken down into bits — into zeros and ones. A bit is the smallest unit a computer processes. Eight of them make a byte, and these bytes stack up to megabytes, gigabytes, and the enormous amounts of data an 8K production generates daily. For you as a DP or VFX supervisor, this isn't just theory: the bit depth of an image determines whether your color space appears flat and tinny, or whether you'll still have latitude in the grading suite later.

In practice, you almost always work with 8-bit, 10-bit, or 12-bit material. 8-bit (256 gradations per channel) is the minimum — for this, each RGB color requires 24 bits in total. This is sufficient for fast delivery and web, but with outdoor scenes or extreme color grading, you quickly lose color gradients, especially in highlights and shadows. You'll then see 'banding' — unnatural stripes instead of smooth transitions. 10-bit (over 1 billion colors) is the standard in professional production today. Cameras like the ALEXA or RED deliver 10-bit or higher, and your editing and grading pipelines should preserve at least that. You need 12-bit and above when shooting in RAW or dealing with extreme color correction — for example, in visual effects, where compositors still need to separate channels and isolate details.

The critical point: every conversion step costs bits. If your camera RAW comes in at 12-bit, but your editing system works with 8-bit, you've discarded information — that can't be recovered. That's why studios store intermediate stages in 16-bit or 32-bit floating point (for VFX compositing) to maintain maximum flexibility. For the final delivery, you then reduce back to 8-bit or 10-bit, depending on the target medium. Streaming services often only accept 8-bit H.264, cinema DCP requires 12-bit. This consideration should flow into your concept during shooting planning, not just be realized in the edit that you started too low.