bMighty SMB TechEncyclopedia

In computer graphics, it is the creation of new values that lie between known values. For example, when objects are rasterized into two-dimensional images from their corner points (vertices), all the pixels between those points are filled in by an interpolation algorithm, which determines their color and other attributes (see graphics pipeline).

     Another example is when a video image in a low resolution is upscaled to display on a monitor with a higher resolution, the missing lines are created by interpolation. In a digital camera, the optical zoom is based on the physical lenses, but the digital zoom is accomplished by algorithms (see interpolated resolution).