What are the limitations of the color palette in the GIF format?

The GIF format is limited to a palette of a maximum of 256 colors (8 bits per pixel). This is because GIF uses an indexed color palette, where each pixel stores an index to a color in the palette table, which contains no more than 256 colors. This limitation makes GIF less suitable for photographs with a large number of colors, but it is well-suited for simple images, logos, and animations with a limited color scheme.