Oscilloscope resolution comes from the resolution of the ADC, an ADC has 2N bits of resolution. In an 8-bit system 28 resolution means 256 quantization levels. A 12-bit oscilloscope has 212 resolution or 4096 quantization levels, an improvement of 16 times. This additional resolution enables 12-bit oscilloscopes to display waveforms that are more precise and show more details.