Abstract: A system and method for converting true-color still images to a format used by graphics display boards which is based on a pseudo-color method (i.e., displays such as Super VGA used by IBM personal computers and compatibles capable of displaying only 256 colors). The resulting visual model emulates thousands of colors displaying richly colored images and delivering a much better result than technologies based on currently used techniques such as the common histogram method. The high quality is obtained by determining an error factor for each pixel. In a preferred embodiment, the 256 colors are determined by a selection process which specifies a universal palette which contains an optimum set of colors for all images, i.e., without using a histogram which determines the colors which appear most frequently in a single particular image.