Color depth is like the palette’s canvas size – with more bits you can capture those faint blushes or the subtle shift of a sunset, while a low depth squashes it into chunky steps. JPEG, being lossy, trims the data to save space, which can blur those delicate gradients and introduce that annoying banding or a soft halo around edges. PNG keeps the data intact, so the exact hue values stay, but if you save a PNG with a limited palette you’ll still see dithering if the colors are stretched too far. In short, if you’re chasing that exact shade, a high‑bit‑depth source and a lossless format give you the most faithful canvas to work on.

That’s the golden rule—kept the data pristine until the end, and only trimmed it when absolutely necessary. I love how that workflow lets the colors breathe, no surprise dithering or lost detail. If you ever feel a shade slipping, just double‑check the bit depth before you hit export. It keeps the palette alive and the piece looking polished.