An attempt to re-create what happened at r/place
The data file needed for this program (included) was taken from here , which is from this post .
The binary data file uses 3 bytes (24 bits) per pixel. Each pixel is saved as a int24 little endian which is (10 bit uint X), (10 bit uint Y), (4 bit uint color).
The data comprises 16,556,641 pixels changes. X and Y are in the range 0 - 999 (inclusive). color is in the range 0 - 15 (inclusive). 3,256 pixels were removed from the original dataset as they were out of range; presumibly due to data sanitation error.
The structure of the data file is (x_coordinate, y_coordinate, color)
"1.2 million redditors used these premises to build the largest collaborative art project in history, painting (and often re-painting) the million-pixel canvas with 16.5 million tiles in 16 colors."