diff --git a/web/rfb.ts b/web/rfb.ts
index 96ef93d..77af7fa 100644
--- a/web/rfb.ts
+++ b/web/rfb.ts
@@ -16,9 +16,15 @@
  * ── The pixel format ──
  *
  * The client DICTATES the format via SetPixelFormat rather than accepting the server's, so decoding is
- * a memcpy into ImageData instead of a per-pixel shift-and-mask. We ask for 32bpp true colour with
- * big-endian byte order, which puts the bytes on the wire as R,G,B,X — exactly the order a canvas
- * ImageData buffer wants, so a Raw rectangle copies straight in.
+ * a memcpy into ImageData instead of a per-pixel shift-and-mask. We ask for 32bpp true colour,
+ * big-endian, with red/green/blue shifts of 24/16/8. That makes the pixel value 0xRRGGBB00, which
+ * big-endian puts on the wire as R,G,B,X — exactly the order a canvas ImageData buffer wants, so a Raw
+ * rectangle copies straight in.
+ *
+ * The shifts are the load-bearing part, and 16/8/0 is the tempting wrong answer: it is the familiar
+ * 0x00RRGGBB, and big-endian then sends X,R,G,B. Copied into ImageData that moves every channel one
+ * place along and drops blue — grey renders cyan, red renders green, blue renders black. The first
+ * alpha shipped that way, with this comment already claiming otherwise.
  */
 
 export type RfbEvents = {
@@ -190,7 +196,7 @@ export class RfbClient {
     return true;
   }
 
-  /** 32bpp true colour, big-endian, shifts 16/8/0 — i.e. R,G,B,X on the wire, which is ImageData order. */
+  /** 32bpp true colour, big-endian, shifts 24/16/8 — i.e. R,G,B,X on the wire, which is ImageData order. */
   private setPixelFormat(): void {
     const message = new Uint8Array(20);
     const view = new DataView(message.buffer);
@@ -202,9 +208,9 @@ export class RfbClient {
     view.setUint16(8, 255); // red max
     view.setUint16(10, 255); // green max
     view.setUint16(12, 255); // blue max
-    message[14] = 16; // red shift
-    message[15] = 8; // green shift
-    message[16] = 0; // blue shift
+    message[14] = 24; // red shift
+    message[15] = 16; // green shift
+    message[16] = 8; // blue shift
     this.send(message);
   }