Due to color conversion, a system-wide color meter is useless. Trying to use native values from these displays in an sRGB context will result in noticeably incorrect colors. In late 2015, Apple introduced iMacs using wider-gamut displays. While Apple displays in the 2012-2015 timeframe were close to sRGB, minor errors would still occur. Apple uses sRGB displays - hence, my display's native values are the same as sRGB. Note that even then, the data may not be accurate, as system image APIs may have performed a color conversion upon opening. In order to see the file's original data, you need open the file in an image editor and use its built-in color meter or eyedropper tool. You can use a color meter to approximate the file's original data, but there is no guarantee that one or more lossy color conversions haven't already occured. I can use a system-wide color meter to see an image file's RGB data. See WWDC 2012 Session 523: “Best Practices for Color Management”. Starting in Mountain Lion 10.8, NSDeviceRGBColorSpace is treated as sRGB. Cocoa's “Device RGB color space” corresponds to my monitor's color space. Safari 9 correctly treats CSS colors as sRGB and Chrome has an open issue to fix this. Historically, however, browsers haven't color-corrected CSS colors. Per the CSS Color Module standard, colors are specified in the sRGB color space. CSS colors correspond to my monitor's color space.įalse. While many web developers would say #ff0000 is red, it may be bright purple or green in a contrived space. A color needs both coordinates and a color space (such as “my monitor's space” or “sRGB”) to be identified. Let's start by listing common mistakes made by developers: A color can be identified by it's red, green, and blue values.įalse.
This article provides details on how macOS color space conversion affects the values displayed in color meter utilities.
Mac Color Meters and Color Space Conversion Table of Contents