diff --git a/src/bin/termptyesc.c b/src/bin/termptyesc.c
index 906f30a0..3cb64ca3 100644
--- a/src/bin/termptyesc.c
+++ b/src/bin/termptyesc.c
@@ -654,12 +654,77 @@ _csi_truecolor_arg_get(Termpty *ty, Eina_Unicode **ptr)
    return sum;
 }
 
+#if !defined(ENABLE_FUZZING)
+/*********************************
+ * cache true color approximations
+ *********************************
+ * Approximating true colors is costly since it needs to compare 256 colors.
+ * The following considers that a few colors are used a lot.  For example, one
+ * can consider that a text editor with syntax highlighting would only use a
+ * small palette.
+ * Given that, using the cache needs to be efficient: it needs to speed up the
+ * approximation when the color is already in the cache but not knowing the
+ * color requested is not in the cache needs to be efficient too.
+ *
+ * The cache is an array of @TCC_LEN uint32_t.
+ * Each entry has on the MSB the color as 3 uint8_t (R,G,B) and the LSB is
+ * the approximated color.
+ * Searching a color is simply going through the array and testing the mask on
+ * the 3 most significant bytes.
+ * When a color is found, it is bubbled up towards the start of the array by
+ * swapping this entry with the one above.  This way the array is ordered to
+ * get most used colors as fast as possible.
+ * When a color is not found, the slow process of comparing it with the 256
+ * colors is used.  Then the result is inserted in the lower half of the
+ * array.  This ensures that new entries can live a bit and not be removed by
+ * the next new color.  Using a modulo with a prime number makes for a
+ * nice-enough random generator to figure out where to insert.
+ */
+#define TCC_LEN 32
+#define TCC_PRIME 17 /* smallest prime number larger than @TCC_LEN/2 */
+static struct {
+     uint32_t colors[TCC_LEN];
+} _truecolor_cache;
+static int _tcc_random_pos = 0;
 
-static int
+static Eina_Bool
+_tcc_find(const uint32_t color_msb, uint8_t *chosen_color)
+{
+   int i;
+   for (i = 0; i < TCC_LEN; i++)
+     {
+        if ((_truecolor_cache.colors[i] & 0xffffff00) == color_msb)
+          {
+             *chosen_color = _truecolor_cache.colors[i] & 0xff;
+             /* bubble up this result */
+             if (i > 0)
+               {
+                  uint32_t prev = _truecolor_cache.colors[i - 1];
+                  _truecolor_cache.colors[i - 1] = _truecolor_cache.colors[i];
+                  _truecolor_cache.colors[i] = prev;
+               }
+             return EINA_TRUE;
+          }
+     }
+   return EINA_FALSE;
+}
+
+static void
+_tcc_insert(const uint32_t color_msb, const uint8_t approximated)
+{
+   uint32_t c = color_msb | approximated;
+   int i;
+
+   i = (TCC_LEN / 2) + ((_tcc_random_pos + TCC_PRIME) % (TCC_LEN / 2));
+
+  _truecolor_cache.colors[i] = c;
+}
+#endif
+
+static uint8_t
 _approximate_truecolor_rgb(Termpty *ty, int r0, int g0, int b0)
 {
-   int chosen_color = COL_DEF;
-/* TODO: use the function in tests */
+   uint8_t chosen_color = COL_DEF;
 #if defined(ENABLE_FUZZING)
    (void) ty;
    (void) r0;
@@ -669,14 +734,16 @@ _approximate_truecolor_rgb(Termpty *ty, int r0, int g0, int b0)
    int c;
    int distance_min = INT_MAX;
    Evas_Object *textgrid;
+   const uint32_t color_msb = (r0 << 24) | (g0 << 16) | (b0 << 8);
 
-   DBG("approximating r:%d g:%d b:%d", r0, g0, b0);
+   if (_tcc_find(color_msb, &chosen_color))
+     return chosen_color;
 
    textgrid = termio_textgrid_get(ty->obj);
    for (c = 0; c < 256; c++)
      {
         int r1 = 0, g1 = 0, b1 = 0, a1 = 0;
-        int delta_red_sq, delta_green_sq, delta_blue_sq, middle_red;
+        int delta_red_sq, delta_green_sq, delta_blue_sq, red_mean;
         int distance;
 
         evas_object_textgrid_palette_get(textgrid,
@@ -684,23 +751,34 @@ _approximate_truecolor_rgb(Termpty *ty, int r0, int g0, int b0)
                                          c, &r1, &g1, &b1, &a1);
         /* Compute the color distance
          * XXX: this is inacurate but should give good enough results.
-         * See * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_difference
+         * See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_difference
          */
-        middle_red = (r0 + r1) / 2;
+        red_mean = (r0 + r1) / 2;
         delta_red_sq = (r0 - r1) * (r0 - r1);
         delta_green_sq = (g0 - g1) * (g0 - g1);
         delta_blue_sq = (b0 - b1) * (b0 - b1);
 
+#if 1
         distance = 2 * delta_red_sq
            + 4 * delta_green_sq
            + 3 * delta_blue_sq
-           + ((middle_red) * (delta_red_sq - delta_blue_sq) / 256);
+           + ((red_mean) * (delta_red_sq - delta_blue_sq) / 256);
+#else
+        /* from https://www.compuphase.com/cmetric.htm */
+        distance = (((512 + red_mean) * delta_red_sq) >> 8)
+                 + 4 * delta_green_sq
+                 + (((767 - red_mean) * delta_blue_sq) >> 8);
+        /* euclidian distance */
+        distance = delta_red_sq + delta_green_sq + delta_blue_sq;
+        (void)red_mean;
+#endif
         if (distance < distance_min)
           {
              distance_min = distance;
              chosen_color = c;
           }
      }
+   _tcc_insert(color_msb, chosen_color);
 #endif
    return chosen_color;
 }