This bibliography includes references for both original papers on color quantization algorithms and their implementation in various books and magazines. If you want to reduce 24-bit color images to a palette of 256 colors, create optimized palettes for video sequences, or anything similar, you should be able to find the answers to your questions in one or more of the following references.
Author Comments:
Thanks to Paul Heckbert of Carnegie Mellon University for contributing his color quantization references to this bibliography.