8bit vs 10bit vs 12bit?

Question

I do a lot of HEVC encoding and what I've read is 10bit is always better than 8bit, **even from an 8bit source**, because it avoids rounding errors. Is that true?Also, then is 12bit better than 10bit or are the rounding errors insignificant at that point?

Answer 1

10-bit is always best. The rounding errors is a made up story. The real reason has to do with pure RGB color being depicted on a monitor without having the image suffer. 10-bit will cover the color gamut for a monitor up to 27" in 2K. 8-bit will give you the dreaded banding as it has insufficient capacity in color to make a smooth image. 12-bit becomes overkill UNLESS you plan on making 4K movies. Then you would need 12-bit at a minimum. Remember that this assumes that your system, displays are properly calibrated.