This is some examples for the topic discussed in https://permadi.com/blog/2010/03/cocos2d-color-depth-and-memory-optimizations/ kTexture2DPixelFormat_RGBA4444 Notice the severe banding. kTexture2DPixelFormat_RGBA8888 kTexture2DPixelFormat_RGBA4444 kTexture2DPixelFormat_RGBA8888 kTexture2DPixelFormat_RGBA4444 kTexture2DPixelFormat_RGBA8888