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Last modified on 9 August 2020, at 11:17

CPC Palette

Revision as of 11:17, 9 August 2020 by MacDeath (Talk | contribs) (→‎Other systems using the same palette)



Firmware Number Hardware Number Colour Name R % G % B % Hexadecimal RGB values Colour
0 54h Black 0 0 0 #000000 0/0/0
1 44h (or 50h) Blue 0 0 50 #000080 0/0/128
2 55h Bright Blue 0 0 100 #0000FF 0/0/255
3 5Ch Red 50 0 0 #800000 128/0/0
4 58h Magenta 50 0 50 #800080 128/0/128
5 5Dh Mauve 50 0 100 #8000FF 128/0/255
6 4Ch Bright Red 100 0 0 #FF0000 255/0/0
7 45h (or 48h) Purple 100 0 50 #FF0080 255/0/128
8 4Dh Bright Magenta 100 0 100 #FF00FF 255/0/255
9 56h Green 0 50 0 #008000 0/128/0
10 46h Cyan 0 50 50 #008080 0/128/128
11 57h Sky Blue 0 50 100 #0080FF 0/128/255
12 5Eh Yellow 50 50 0 #808000 128/128/0
13 40h (or 41h) White 50 50 50 #808080 128/128/128
14 5Fh Pastel Blue 50 50 100 #8080FF 128/128/255
15 4Eh Orange 100 50 0 #FF8000 255/128/0
16 47h Pink 100 50 50 #FF8080 255/128/128
17 4Fh Pastel Magenta 100 50 100 #FF80FF 255/128/255
18 52h Bright Green 0 100 0 #00FF00 0/255/0
19 42h (or 51h) Sea Green 0 100 50 #00FF80 0/255/128
20 53h Bright Cyan 0 100 100 #00FFFF 0/255/255
21 5Ah Lime 50 100 0 #80FF00 128/255/0
22 59h Pastel Green 50 100 50 #80FF80 128/255/128
23 5Bh Pastel Cyan 50 100 100 #80FFFF 128/255/255
24 4Ah Bright Yellow 100 100 0 #FFFF00 255/255/0
25 43h (or 49h) Pastel Yellow 100 100 50 #FFFF80 255/255/128
26 4Bh Bright White 100 100 100 #FFFFFF 255/255/255


  • Note : Actually both RGB's 127 (#7F) or 128 (#80) values can be used to generate the CPC palette's half tones on a true colour modern computer.

CPC6128 R,G,B signals (measured by nocash)

  • Test

  • Green

  • Red

  • Blue

The pictures are showing the RGB outputs on a CPC6128 with classic (non-cost-down) mainboard (measured between the monitor connector and R126,R128,R130). Each divider is 100mV in height.

The CPC is connected to the RGB input of a Philips Philetta TV Set (this is important for the test, as the monitor does pull-down the signals, without monitor connected both "max" and "half" signals are around 4.0V, with monitor connected they drop to circa 1.0V and 0.5V, as seen in the pictures).

Stretching the Palette

  • CPC palette is a 3x3x3 RGB cube that can be stretched into 5x5x5 RGB cube via ditherings or fast colour swap (flashouille).
  • While some mixes of colours are supposed to produce the same colour (in theory), the properties of pixels and the variation of their percieved size depending on their intensity or the number of luminophores used to produce a colour may give actual slight and subtle differences. May also vary from one machine or screen to another, or between PLUS range and CPC classic range.

Stretched CPC palette macdeath.png


Related Pages

Other systems using the same palette

  • The Toshiba PASOPIA 7 is known to feature the same 3-values RGB palette as the Amstrad CPC, its video modes are different than Amstrad CPC's ones though and the colours may be produced via fine ditherings.
  • Many Japanese machines had some 640x200(x8colours) video modes with the basic RGB 8 colour palette that would actually display some 320x200(x27 colours) video mode on real screen via ditherings, the 27colours being the 3x3x3 RGB cube from AmstradCPC. Check NEC PC80xx machines.

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