How to Decrease the Colors in a Picture With a Paint Program

By Editorial Team

In order to reduce file size (important when using graphics on the Web) or make editing changes, you must reduce the number of colors on some pictures. You can accomplish this with a few clicks of your mouse. The steps are similar in most paint programs.

Open your image editing program. Locate the picture and select Open or double-click to open it.

Look for the Colors or Mode menu command and click it to pull down a menu.

Select the color choice for the picture. Use the radio buttons and commands to change the color options.

Click OK and preview the picture. If the result is unsatisfactory, open the Edit menu and choose Undo.

Open the File menu and choose Save or Save As to save the new picture.

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