sRGB vs Adobe RGB vs Display P3
Last reviewed 2026-09-17. Every competitor figure links to the vendor's own page.
A colour space defines which colours the numbers in a file actually represent. The same RGB values mean different colours in sRGB and Adobe RGB. When a file's profile is stripped or ignored, software assumes sRGB, which is why wide-gamut images often appear dull or washed out online.
The three common spaces
| Space | Gamut | Use for | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| sRGB | Narrowest, the web baseline | Web, ecommerce, social, email | Cannot represent the most saturated print colours |
| Adobe RGB | Wider in cyan and green | Print production workflows | Looks washed out if shown as sRGB |
| Display P3 | Wider in red and green | Modern displays, HDR-adjacent work | Same washed-out failure when untagged |
Why the same numbers mean different colours
An RGB value such as 220, 30, 40 is not a colour. It is a coordinate, and the colour space is the map that turns it into one. The same coordinate lands on a noticeably more saturated red in Adobe RGB than in sRGB, because Adobe RGB stretches the same 0 to 255 range across a larger region of visible colour.
So an image is only correct when its numbers travel with the map that produced them. Lose the profile and the numbers survive intact while their meaning changes, which is exactly the washed-out result people notice after uploading.
Choosing a space by output
| Destination | Deliver in | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Website or web app | sRGB, profile embedded | Universally interpreted correctly |
| Marketplace listing | sRGB | Assume the platform does no conversion |
| Social platforms | sRGB | Re-encoding often strips profiles |
| Commercial print | Adobe RGB or as the printer specifies | Ask before converting; they may want the original |
| Archival master | Widest you captured | Convert down for delivery, never up |
Practical rules
- Edit in the widest space you captured, then convert to sRGB on export for screen
- Always embed the profile; the few kilobytes remove all ambiguity
- Convert, do not simply reassign. Assigning changes meaning, converting preserves appearance
- Never convert a narrow space up to a wide one expecting richer colour; the data is not there
- If colour shifts after a processing step, check the profile before blaming the tool
Frequently asked questions
Why do my images look washed out on the web?
Almost always an Adobe RGB image displayed as though it were sRGB. Adobe RGB spreads the same numeric range across a wider set of colours, so when those numbers are read as sRGB every colour lands closer to neutral, producing a flat, desaturated look.
Which colour space should I use for web images?
sRGB, and embed the profile. It is the assumed default across browsers, marketplaces and social platforms, and it is the only space guaranteed to be interpreted correctly everywhere.
Is Adobe RGB better than sRGB?
It is wider, not better. Adobe RGB covers more saturated cyans and greens, which is useful for print workflows that can reproduce them. For screen delivery that extra range is usually discarded, and risks the washed-out problem.
What is Display P3?
A wide-gamut space used by modern Apple displays and increasingly supported in browsers. It covers noticeably more saturated reds and greens than sRGB. It works well when correctly tagged, and degrades the same way as Adobe RGB when the profile is lost.
What does embedding a colour profile do?
It tells software how to interpret the file's numbers. Without it, applications guess, and they nearly always guess sRGB. Embedding adds a few kilobytes and removes the guesswork entirely.
Does background removal change colour?
It should not alter the colours it keeps, but stripping metadata can drop the embedded profile, which changes how those unchanged numbers get interpreted. If colours shift after processing, check whether the profile survived before suspecting the model.