Editor › Learn › Color Spaces: sRGB, Adobe RGB, Display P3 and CMYK, Compared
What is a colour space and which one should I work in?
A colour space gives colour numbers a defined meaning: (255, 0, 0) is a different physical red in sRGB, Adobe RGB and Display P3, because each space maps the same numbers to different measured colours. Work in the space that matches your delivery: sRGB for web and general exchange, a wider RGB space when your source and output can honestly use it, and convert to a specific CMYK printing condition only at the end.
Numbers mean nothing without a space
An RGB triplet is a recipe, not a colour, until a colour space defines the primaries, white point and tone curve that interpret it. That definition is exactly what an ICC profile encodes. This is why an image "loses its colour" when a profile is stripped: the numbers survive but their meaning is gone, and every viewer guesses — usually sRGB.
The common spaces, honestly compared
| Space | Gamut | Best for | Watch out |
|---|---|---|---|
| sRGB | baseline; smallest of the four | web, exchange, anything unmanaged | clips saturated print cyans/greens |
| Display P3 | wider reds/greens than sRGB | modern screens, devices with P3 displays | unmanaged viewers oversaturate it |
| Adobe RGB (1998) | wider cyans/greens | print-destined photography | looks dull if misread as sRGB |
| CMYK (per condition) | device-specific, smallest overall | final print output | each profile is its OWN space |
"CMYK" is not one space
sRGB is one definition; CMYK is a family. FOGRA39 coated, FOGRA52 uncoated, GRACoL, SWOP newsprint — each describes a different press-and-paper condition with its own gamut and ink limits. The same CMYK percentages print differently under each, which is why professional workflows say "convert to the printer's profile," never just "convert to CMYK."
Choosing without regret
- Deliverable is screen-only: work and export in sRGB. Wider spaces buy nothing and risk oversaturation in careless viewers.
- Deliverable is print and your captures are wide-gamut: a wide RGB working space preserves printable cyans and greens that sRGB would clip before the press ever sees them.
- Always embed the profile on export. An embedded profile costs kilobytes; a stripped one costs the meaning of every number in the file.
- Convert to CMYK once, at the end, to the named condition — and keep the RGB master.
Questions
- Is Display P3 the same as DCI-P3?
- They share primaries, but Display P3 uses a D65 white point and the sRGB tone curve — it is the display/consumer variant of the cinema DCI-P3 space.
- Why does my Adobe RGB photo look flat on the web?
- The viewer ignored the profile and read the numbers as sRGB, which desaturates them. Export web copies in sRGB.
- Which space does PhotoAIA use?
- Documents carry an ICC profile (sRGB by default); conversions, CMYK separations and soft proofs run through LittleCMS with the profile you choose, locally.