A pixel is a single point in a raster image or the smallest addressable element in an all-points-addressable display device. A pixel has distinct coordinates within the raster that are used to identify its position. The term is short for picture element. Raster images are made up of pixels, which are tiny squares or dots. When you zoom in on a raster image, you can see the individual pixels that make up the image.
The word “pixel” was first coined as a combination of two words: pix, meaning “picture”, and el, meaning “element”. The word first appeared in print in 1965, although the concept of images composed of pixels had been around since at least the 1920s.
Today, pixels are widely used not only in digital imaging but also in LED displays and other screen-based devices such as cell phones and tablets. In fact, just about any device that uses a screen to display information can be said to use pixels.
Pixels are important because they store information about an image. Each pixel contains data about its color and brightness. When an image is displayed on a screen, the pixels light up to create the final picture.
The word “pixel” comes from the Latin word for “point” (pix). The first use of pixels in digital imaging was in 1965 by computer scientist Russell Kirsch at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He used them to scan and store images of people for facial recognition research.