diff --git a/src/jexer/backend/HQSixelEncoder.java b/src/jexer/backend/HQSixelEncoder.java
index d65301e..11a8650 100644
--- a/src/jexer/backend/HQSixelEncoder.java
+++ b/src/jexer/backend/HQSixelEncoder.java
@@ -802,7 +802,7 @@ public class HQSixelEncoder implements SixelEncoder {
 
             // Sample the colors.  We will be taking SAMPLE_SIZE'd pixel
             // bands uniformly through the image data, with numColors bands.
-            final int SAMPLE_SIZE = 16;
+            final int SAMPLE_SIZE = 4;
             int stride = 0;
             if (totalPixels > SAMPLE_SIZE * numColors) {
                 stride = Math.max(0, totalPixels / numColors);