Color Spaces

This is an overview of color spaces, listing their channels and expected ranges. Check out the shorter version too.

Note on terminology

A color model is a way to describe colors along certain dimensions.

RGB, for example, is a color model: color is expressed as a combination of red, green and blue. A color model, along with a precise description of how colors in the model are to be interpreted, makes a color space.

sRGB, Display P3 and ProPhoto RGB are all color spaces that employ the RGB model: they describe colors as combination of red, green, and blue primaries; however, they have different notions of how these red, green, and blue primary colors look.

In some color spaces, such as CIELAB or CIELCh, some channels don’t have fixed ranges. For these channels, approximate ranges are obtained by converting all sRGB colors defined by
r, g, b ∈ ℕ ⋂ [0, 255] to that specific color space. Whenever that’s the case, the range is marked with the approximation symbol ≈.

In addition to the channels listed below, all color spaces also take an optional alpha channel with the range [0, 1].

 

The RGB model

The RGB color model describes colors as mixtures of red, green, and blue primaries.

Channel Range Description
r [0, 1] Red channel
g [0, 1] Green channel
b [0, 1] Blue channel

rgb

The sRGB color space, which most people refer to when talking about RGB colors.

Serialized as color(srgb r g b), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Has gamut limits.

lrgb

The linear-light form of the sRGB color space.

Serialized as color(srgb-linear r g b), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Has gamut limits.

a98

The A98 RGB color space, compatible with the Adobe RGB (1998) color space.

Serialized as color(a98-rgb r g b), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Has gamut limits.

p3

The Display P3 color space.

Serialized as color(display-p3 r g b), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Has gamut limits.

prophoto

The ProPhoto RGB color space.

Serialized as color(prophoto-rgb r g b), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Has gamut limits.

rec2020

The Rec. 2020 color space.

Serialized as color(rec2020 r g b), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Has gamut limits.

 

The HSL/HSV/HSI family

HSL, HSV, and HSI are alternative representations of the RGB color model, created in an attempt to provide a more intuitive way to specify colors.

The hue is identical across all color models in this family; however, the saturaton is computed differently in each. The saturation in HSL is not interchangeable with the saturation from HSV, nor HSI. Achromatic colors (shades of gray) will have an undefined hue.

As color spaces, they relate to the sRGB color space.

hsl

The HSL color space.

Channel Range Description
h [0, 360) Hue
s [0, 1] Saturation in HSL
l [0, 1] Lightness

Serialized as hsl(h s% l%). A missing hue is serialized as 0, with the none keyword for any other missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Has gamut limits.

hsv

The HSV color space.

Channel Range Description
h [0, 360) Hue
s [0, 1] Saturation in HSV
v [0, 1] Value

Serialized as color(--hsv h s v), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Has gamut limits.

hsi

The HSI color space.

Channel Range Description
h [0, 360) Hue
s [0, 1] Saturation in HSI
i [0, 1] Intensity

Serialized as color(--hsi h s i), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Has gamut limits.

 

HWB

The HWB color model was developed by Alvy Ray Smith, who also created the HSV color model. It’s meant to be more intuitive for humans to use and faster to compute.

Channel Range Description
h [0, 360) Hue
w [0, 1] Whiteness
b [0, 1] Blackness

Serialized as hwb(h w% b%).

Serialized as hwb(h w% b%). A missing hue is serialized as 0, with the none keyword for any other missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Has gamut limits.

Smith, Alvy Ray (1996) — “HWB — A More Intuitive Hue-Based Color Model”, Journal of Graphics, GPU and Game tools.

CIELAB

The CIELAB color space, also known as CIE 1976 L*a*b*, in Cartesian (Lab) and cylindrical (LCh) forms.

lab

The CIELAB color space using the D50 standard illuminant as the reference white, following the CSS Color Module Level 4 specification.

Channel CSS Reference Range Description
l [0, 100] Lightness
a [-100, 100] Green–red component
b [-100, 100] Blue–yellow component

Serialized as lab(l a b), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

lch

The CIELCh color space using the D50 standard illuminant.

Channel CSS Reference Range Description
l [0, 100] Lightness
c [0, 150] Chroma
h [0, 360) Hue

Serialized as lch(l c h). A missing hue is serialized as 0, with the none keyword for any other missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

lab65

CIELAB relative to the D65 standard illuminant.

Channel Range Description
l [0, 100] Lightness
a [-86.183, 98.234]≈ Green–red component
b [-107.86, 94.478]≈ Blue–yellow component

Serialized as color(--lab-d65 l a b), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

lch65

CIELCh relative to the D65 standard illuminant.

Channel Range Description
l [0, 100] Lightness
c [0, 133.807]≈ Chroma
h [0, 360) Hue

Serialized as color(--lch-d65 l c h), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

 

CIELUV

The CIELUV color space in Cartesian (Luv) and cylindrical (LCh) forms, using the D50 standard illuminant.

CIELuv has an effective Euclidean color difference function:

let deltaE_uv = culori.colorDifferenceEuclidean('luv');

luv

Channel Range Description
l [0, 100] Lightness
u [-84.936, 175.042]≈ Green–red component
v [-125.882, 87.243]≈ Blue–yellow component

Serialized as color(--luv l u v), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

lchuv

Channel Range Description
l [0, 100] Lightness
c [0, 176.956]≈ Chroma
h [0, 360) Hue

Serialized as color(--lchuv l c h), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

 

DIN99 Lab / LCh

The DIN99 color space “squishes” the CIELAB D65 color space to obtain an effective color difference metric that can be expressed as a simple Euclidean distance. The latest iteration of the the standard, DIN99o, is available in Cartesian (dlab) and plar (dlch) form.

“Industrial Color Physics”, Georg A. Klein, Springer (2010)

dlab

The DIN99o color space in Cartesian form.

Channel Range Description
l [0, 100] Lightness
a [-40.09, 45.501]≈
b [-40.469, 44.344]≈

Serialized as color(--din99o-lab l a b), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

dlch

The DIN99o color space in cylindrical form.

Channel Range Description
l [0, 100] Lightness
c [0, 51.484]≈ Chroma
h [0, 360) Hue

Serialized as color(--din99o-lch l c h), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

 

Oklab, Oklch, Okhsl, Okhsv

The Oklab color space, in Cartesian (Lab) and cylindrical (LCh) forms. It uses the D65 standard illuminant.

See also: Okhsl and Okhsv, two new color spaces for color picking.

oklab

The Oklab color space in Cartesian form.

Channel CSS Reference Range Description
l [0, 1] Lightness
a [-0.4, 0.4] Green–red component
b [-0.4, 0.4] Blue–yellow component

Serialized as oklab(l a b), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

oklch

The Oklab color space in cylindrical form.

Channel Range Description
l [0, 1] Lightness
c [0, 0.4] Chroma
h [0, 360) Hue

Serialized as oklch(l c h), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

okhsl

Channel Range Description
h [0, 360) Hue
s [0, 1] Saturation (Okhsl)
l [0, 1] Lightness

Serialized as color(--okhsl h s l), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

okhsv

Channel Range Description
h [0, 360) Hue
s [0, 1] Saturation (Okhsv)
v [0, 1] Value

Serialized as color(--okhsv h s v), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

 

 

Further reading

Jzazbz

The Jzazbz color space, as defined by:

Muhammad Safdar, Guihua Cui, Youn Jin Kim, and Ming Ronnier Luo, “Perceptually uniform color space for image signals including high dynamic range and wide gamut”, Opt. Express 25, 15131-15151 (2017)

jab

The Jzazbz color space in Cartesian form.

Channel Range Description
j [0, 0.222]≈ Lightness
a [-0.109, 0.129]≈ Green–red component
b [-0.185, 0.134]≈ Blue–yellow component

Serialized as color(--jzazbz j a b), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

jch

The Jzazbz color space in cylindrical form.

Channel Range Description
j [0, 0.222]≈ Lightness
c [0, 0.190]≈ Chroma
h [0, 360) Hue

Serialized as color(--jzczhz j c h), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

 

YIQ (yiq)

YIQ is the color space used by the NTSC color TV system. It contains the following channels:

Channel Range Description
y [0, 1] Luma
i [-0.595, 0.595]≈ In-phase (orange-blue axis)
q [-0.522, 0.522]≈ Quadrature (green-purple axis)

Serialized as color(--yiq y i q), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

The conversion matrices between the sRGB and YIQ color spaces are taken from:

Yuriy Kotsarenko, Fernando Ramos, Measuring perceived color difference using YIQ NTSC transmission color space in mobile applications, Programación Matemática y Software (2010), Vol. 2, No 2.

CIE XYZ

The CIE XYZ color space, also known as the CIE 1931 color space.

xyz50

The CIE XYZ color space in respect to the D50 standard illuminant.

Channel Range Description
x [0, 0.964]≈ ?
y [0, 0.999]≈ ?
z [0, 0.825]≈ ?

Serialized as color(xyz-d50 x y z), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

xyz65

The CIE XYZ color space in respect to the D65 standard illuminant.

Channel Range Description
x [0, 0.950]≈ ?
y [0, 1]≈ ?
z [0, 1.088]≈ ?

Serialized as color(xyz-d65 x y z), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.

 

XYB

The XYB color model is part of the JPEG XL Image Coding System, as an LMS-based colour model inspired by the human visual system, facilitating perceptually uniform quantization. It uses a gamma of 3 for computationally efficient decoding.

xyb

The default XYB color space, defined in relationship to sRGB.

It has the default Chroma from Luma adjustment applied (effectively Y is subtracted from B) so that colors with { x: 0, b: 0 } coordinates are achromatic.

Channel Range Description
x [-0.0154, 0.0281]≈ Cyan-red component
y [0, 0.8453]≈ Luma
b [ -0.2778, 0.3880 ] ≈ Blue-yellow component

Does not have gamut limits.

 

Cubehelix

The Cubehelix color scheme was described by Dave Green in this paper:

Green, D. A., 2011, “A colour scheme for the display of astronomical intensity images”, Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India, 39, 289. (2011BASI…39..289G at ADS)

It was expanded into a cylindrical color space by Mike Bostock and Jason Davies in D3.

cubehelix

The channels in the cubehelix color space maintain the conventions from D3, namely:

Channel Range Description
h [0, 360) Hue (Based on start color and rotations as defined in Green’s paper)
s [0, 4.614] Saturation (Called hue in op. cit.)
l [0, 1] Lightness

Serialized as color(--cubehelix h s l), with the none keyword for any missing color channel. An explicit alpha < 1 is included as / alpha.

Does not have gamut limits.