1. A computer-implemented image encoding method comprising: obtaining, by a computer processor, an electronic representation of an image defined in a data storage, that is accessible to the processor, at least partially by a first component and an assignment thereto of a first color value and by a second component and an assignment thereto of a second color value; determining, by the processor, that the first color value and the second color value are within a threshold range of each other; responsive to the determination, selecting, by the processor, a third color value to represent the first component and the second component; and modifying the electronic representation of the image in the data storage by assigning, by the processor, the third color value to both the first component and the second component; wherein the first component and the second component are neighboring components and form at least a part of a word, and the determining and selecting steps are performed on a word by word basis for all components of a respective word.