DEGAS vs PNG: Atari ST Bitplane Graphics vs Modern 32-Bit Web Images
Compare vintage Atari ST DEGAS (.pi1, .pi2, .pi3, .pc1) graphics with modern lossless PNG images. Learn about 16-color interleaved bitplanes, 9-bit RGB palettes, and lossless compression.
DEGAS is the classic graphics format created by Tom Hudson for the Atari ST computer line in 1985. It stores 32,000-byte raw video memory dumps across 3 hardware resolutions with 9-bit RGB palettes. PNG is the modern W3C lossless image standard offering universal cross-platform rendering and 32-bit truecolor RGBA fidelity.
| FEATURE | DEGAS | PNG |
|---|---|---|
| Native Resolution | 320x200 (Low), 640x200 (Med), 640x400 (High) | Arbitrary resolution |
| Color Capacity | 16 colors from 512 (9-bit RGB) | 16.7 million truecolors (24-bit RGB + alpha) |
| Architecture | Interleaved 4/2/1 bitplane memory dumps | Chunked raster with Deflate zlib compression |
| Modern Browser Support | Unsupported natively (requires decoder) | Universal native support (HTML5 <img> tag) |
- Authentic 1985 Atari ST hardware VRAM representation with zero transcoding overhead
- Directly loadable in vintage Atari ST software, emulators, and demoscene viewers
- Faithfully preserves original 9-bit RGB CRT monitor color palette values
- Fixed 32,034-byte uncompressed footprint matches ST memory boundaries exactly
- Universal native rendering across all modern web browsers, operating systems, and image viewers
- Full 24-bit RGB truecolor plus 8-bit alpha transparency channel
- Lossless Deflate compression dramatically reduces storage footprint without quality degradation
- Supports high-DPI retina display scaling without blur using integer nearest-neighbor sampling
DEGAS is a legendary digital art format from the golden age of Atari ST pixel art. Convert DEGAS files (.pi1, .pi2, .pi3, .pc1) to PNG to preserve and showcase 16-bit retro artwork on modern websites, art archives, and social media.
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