Various embodiments relating to reducing memory bandwidth consumed by a continuous scan display screen are provided. In one embodiment, scoring criteria are applied to a reference image of a first image format having a first bit depth to generate an image conversion score. The scoring criteria are based on a histogram of one or more characteristics of the reference image. If the image conversion score is greater than a threshold value, then the reference image is converted to a modified image of a second image format having a second bit depth less than the first bit depth, and the modified image is scanned onto the continuous scan display screen. If the image conversion score is less than the threshold value, then the reference image is scanned onto the continuous scan display screen.