Using 15 or 16 Bits per Pixel

The 15 or 16-bpp format is a masked, non-palettized format. For either 15 or 16 bpp, 1 pixel is stored in each 2-byte WORD. The 15-bpp format wastes the high-order bit of each word. The following table shows the masks that Microsoft recommends to extract red, green, and blue values.

As the masks show for 15 bpp, the low-order 15 bits of each word contain the pixel data. The unused bit should contain 0. The following illustration shows the arrangement of memory for the format.