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Gamut coverage vs area: how a monitor passes 100%

By TechCompare · Updated · How we check

Coverage counts only the part of a standard inside the screen's triangle, so it can't pass 100%. Area compares sizes. Adobe RGB covers 87.8% of DCI-P3, even though its area is 99.4% of P3's in CIE 1931 xy.

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CIE 1931 xy chart with sRGB, DCI-P3 and Adobe RGBThe curved outline holds every color people can see, with wavelengths in nanometers along its edge. Each standard is a triangle of its red, green and blue primaries. A larger triangle holds more saturated colors.
  • Adobe RGB, the solid line
  • sRGB (BT.709): The web, most apps and SDR video. BT.709, the HDTV standard, has the same primaries.
  • DCI-P3 (Display P3): Wide color monitors, phones and HDR movies. Display P3 is the same triangle with a D65 white.
Adobe RGB against each reference, in CIE 1931 xy
ReferenceCoverageArea
sRGB100.0%134.9%
DCI-P387.8%99.4%

Coverage is the part of the reference inside the triangle, so it stops at 100%. Area is the triangle's size next to the reference, and it can pass 100%. Spec sheets don't always say which one they print.

Open this chart in the Color Gamut Visualizer. Check any standard, enter a monitor's primaries or spec sheet numbers, and switch between CIE 1931 xy and u'v'.
Edit in the full tool

Spec sheets print color numbers like 99% sRGB or 135% sRGB. The first is probably coverage, the share of sRGB the screen can show. The second has to be area, the size of the screen's triangle next to sRGB's. Area ignores where the triangle sits, so a big area number can still miss part of the standard.

Topic
Coverage vs area
Two kinds of number
On the chart
sRGB, DCI-P3
CIE 1931 xy

How this is calculated

Picture two triangles on the chart. Coverage asks how much of the standard's triangle the screen's triangle overlaps. Area asks how big the screen's triangle is, wherever it sits.

The two split when the shapes differ. The chart above fills Adobe RGB and draws DCI-P3 around it. They're close in size, but Adobe RGB's green points toward cyan and its red falls short of P3's, so part of P3 sits outside it. A monitor shaped like Adobe RGB could print either number, and the maker gets to pick.

When the shapes nest, area runs past 100%. DCI-P3 covers 100% of sRGB, and its area is 135.7% of sRGB's. That's the kind of number that turns up as 135% sRGB on a spec sheet.

Any number over 100% is area. So are most NTSC numbers, a habit from older spec sheets. Reviews tend to give coverage, often in both CIE 1931 xy and CIE 1976 u'v'.

Verdict

Trust a coverage number with its chart named, like 95% DCI-P3 in CIE 1931 xy, over a bare one. Treat anything over 100% as area, and anything in NTSC as a rough size. Then compare coverage of the range you'll use, which for most people is sRGB first and DCI-P3 second.

More Color Gamut Visualizer scenarios

sRGB vs DCI-P3
DCI-P3 holds all of sRGB and reaches further into red and green. Here's how big the gap is, and when it matters.
View details
DCI-P3 vs Adobe RGB
Two wide ranges of about the same size, pointed different ways. P3 reaches further into red, Adobe RGB into green and cyan.
View details
sRGB vs Adobe RGB
Adobe RGB keeps sRGB's red and blue and moves green far out. Here's what that adds for photos and print.
View details

Related guides

Is DisplayHDR 400 real HDR?
What a DCI-P3 minimum looks like in a spec.
View guide
New monitor checklist
What to test when a monitor arrives.
View guide

Frequently asked questions

Can gamut coverage be over 100%?
No. Coverage is the share of a standard a screen can show, and a screen can't show more than all of it. A number over 100% is area, or sometimes color volume.
What is color volume?
Color volume adds brightness. A gamut chart is flat, but a screen's colors fade toward white as it gets brighter, so color volume measures the range at every brightness level. It's used for HDR screens, and its numbers don't compare with flat coverage.
Which counts for more, coverage or area?
Coverage. It says which colors of a standard you'll actually see. Area only says how big the triangle is, and a big triangle in the wrong place still misses colors.

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