How many gray values does 16-bit depth capture?

• A. 2^8 = 256
• B. 2^16 = 65,536
• C. 2^12 = 4,096
• D. 2^10 = 1,024

Answer: (B)

Bit depth determines how many subtle brightness steps a pixel can represent. With 16-bit depth, there are 16 binary digits, so the total number of distinct gray values is 2^16, which equals 65,536. In typical imaging, this means unsigned values from 0 to 65,535, giving 65,536 levels. If stored as signed 16-bit data, the numeric range changes, but the number of distinct values remains 65,536. This higher depth allows finer gradients and less banding, at the cost of larger file sizes.