Abstract: A method for reducing required memory capacity and creation of a database. In order to reduce the storage requirement of a database, the invention provides for, non-color information units to be stored to be assigned to the points of intersection of an at least two-dimensional raster matrix which spans a color space, individual color values being assigned to the information units located in the raster matrix and the image matrix thus formed being stored, preferably after image compression, as a database or part of a database.