A selected color component (R, G, B) for each of a plurality of image pixels (32, P) of an image cell (42, C) is encoded to form a corresponding color component (ER, EG, EB) of a corresponding plurality of encoded pixels (40, PE) in one-to-one correspondence with the image pixels (32, P). A bit length of each color component (ER, EG, EB) of an encoded pixel (40, PE) is less than that of a corresponding image pixel (32, P). The encoded pixels (40, PE) are subsequently decoded to generate a corresponding decoded image cell (64, C′k) containing decoded image pixels (62, P′) in one-to-one correspondence with both the encoded pixels (40, PE) and with the original image pixels (32, P), of the same bit length as the original image pixels (32, P), and containing extended color information in excess of the corresponding base color information contained in the corresponding most-significant (MS) portions of the color components (R, G, B) of the original image pixels (32, P) having the same bit length as the encoded color components (ER, EG, EB).