true color
also: 24-bit color, RGB color, full color
True color is a display mode that represents 24-bit color depth, allowing 16.7 million distinct colors (8 bits each for red, green, and blue channels).
True color (also called 24-bit color) is a color representation standard where each pixel is defined by three 8-bit values: one for red, one for green, and one for blue (RGB). This gives 256 levels per channel (2^8), resulting in 256 × 256 × 256 = 16,777,216 possible colors—far more than the human eye can distinguish.
In Linux terminals and text editors, true color support enables rich color output beyond the traditional 16-color or 256-color palettes. Modern terminal emulators like GNOME Terminal, Konsole, and iTerm2 support true color, allowing programs to display gradients, complex syntax highlighting, and detailed visual effects.
To check if your terminal supports true color, you can test with environment variables: echo $COLORTERM should return truecolor or 24bit. Many modern CLI tools like bat (a cat replacement), fzf, and neovim automatically detect and use true color when available.