Introduction (Image Processing Toolbox)

Image Processing Toolbox

Converting Image Storage Classes

You can convert uint8 and uint16 data to double precision using the MATLAB function, double. However, converting between storage classes changes the way MATLAB and the toolbox interpret the image data. If you want the resulting array to be interpreted properly as image data, you need to rescale or offset the data when you convert it.

For easier conversion of storage classes, use one of these toolbox functions: im2double, im2uint8, and im2uint16. These functions automatically handle the rescaling and offsetting of the original data. For example, this command converts a double-precision RGB image with data in the range [0,1] to a uint8 RGB image with data in the range [0,255].

```
RGB2 = im2uint8(RGB1);
```

Losing Information in Conversions

When you convert to a class that uses fewer bits to represent numbers, you generally lose some of the information in your image. For example, a uint16 intensity image is capable of storing up to 65,536 distinct shades of gray, but a uint8 intensity image can store only 256 distinct shades of gray. When you convert a uint16 intensity image to a uint8 intensity image, im2uint8 quantizes the gray shades in the original image. In other words, all values from 0 to 127 in the original image become 0 in the uint8 image, values from 128 to 385 all become 1, and so on. This loss of information is often not a problem, however, since 256 still exceeds the number of shades of gray that your eye is likely to discern.

Converting Indexed Images

It is not always possible to convert an indexed image from one storage class to another. In an indexed image, the image matrix contains only indices into a colormap, rather than the color data itself, so no quantization of the color data is possible during the conversion.

For example, a uint16 or double indexed image with 300 colors cannot be converted to uint8, because uint8 arrays have only 256 distinct values. If you want to perform this conversion, you must first reduce the number of the colors in the image using the imapprox function. This function performs the quantization on the colors in the colormap, to reduce the number of distinct colors in the image. See Reducing Colors in an Indexed Image for more information.

Querying a Graphics File Converting Graphics File Formats