Sub-pixel rendering was often used on low-res monitors as a way of achieving smooth fonts. The idea was to anti-alias the edges of the glyphs by filling in indi

Sub-pixel rendering was often used on low-res monitors as a way of achieving smooth fonts. The idea was to anti-alias the edges of the glyphs by filling in individual R, G or B pixels to give a smoother edge, hence the font was more detailed than your screen resolution. In the world of early mobile phones and portable games consoles it was an important technique for getting smooth fonts on low-res LCD displays. I remember reading this very good article by Joel Spolsky way back then: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/06/12/font-smoothing-anti-aliasing-and-sub-pixel-rendering/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/06/12/font-smoothing-ant...