Abstract: A system and method usable in producing a display image limited to a lesser number of colors from an input image having a greater number of colors. The invention is particularly useful in a computer system utilizing a video monitor capable of simultaneously displaying a selected number of colors stored in a lookup table. The system and method receive data representative of respective colors at a multiplicity of individual pixels in the input image. This input image data is then temporarily stored in an input buffer. An appropriate processor receives the input image data and performs image quantization thereon. Specifically, the processor first determines the selected colors to be included in the display image. Next, the processor determines which of the selected colors respectively correspond to individual pixels of the display image.