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sRGB vs Adobe RGB: what the extra green adds

By TechCompare · Updated · How we check

Adobe RGB covers 100% of sRGB, and in CIE 1931 xy its area is 134.9% of sRGB's. sRGB covers 74.1% of Adobe RGB. The gap is all greens, from yellow green to cyan.

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CIE 1931 xy chart with sRGB 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.
Adobe RGB against each reference, in CIE 1931 xy
ReferenceCoverageArea
sRGB100.0%134.9%

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

sRGB and Adobe RGB are the two color spaces a camera or photo editor offers. They start from the same red and blue corners. Adobe RGB moves only the green one, out toward the edge of what people can see. The chart fills Adobe RGB and draws sRGB's outline inside it, so the extra range shows as one band of green.

Topic
sRGB vs Adobe RGB
Photos and print
On the chart
sRGB, Adobe RGB
CIE 1931 xy

How this is calculated

Adobe RGB was made to hold the colors CMYK printers can make. Print inks reach cyans and greens that sRGB can't, so a photo edited in sRGB loses them before it gets to the printer.

The catch is that most screens and most viewers live in sRGB. An Adobe RGB file opened in an app that ignores color profiles looks dull and flat, since the app reads its numbers as sRGB. The same file shown with its profile looks right. That's why web uploads and many online print shops ask for sRGB.

You also need a wide gamut monitor to see the difference while you edit. On an sRGB screen the extra greens are clipped to the nearest color the screen has, so you're editing colors you can't see.

Verdict

Shoot RAW and pick the color space when you export. Export sRGB for the web, social media and most print shops. Use Adobe RGB when a print lab asks for it and you edit on a monitor that covers most of it. Without that monitor, the extra greens are guesswork.

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
DCI-P3 vs Rec. 2020
Rec. 2020 is the range HDR video is stored in. DCI-P3 is what screens actually reach. Here's the gap between them.
View details

Related guides

RGB vs CMYK
Why print colors differ from screen colors.
View guide
Compare colors on two monitors
See one color on two screens at once.
View guide

Frequently asked questions

Should I set my camera to sRGB or Adobe RGB?
For JPEGs you'll share online, sRGB. For RAW files it hardly matters, since the setting only changes the JPEG preview and the histogram. You pick the color space again when you export.
Why do my Adobe RGB photos look dull online?
Some apps and sites ignore the color profile and read the file as sRGB. Adobe RGB's numbers then land on less saturated sRGB colors. Export a copy in sRGB for anything that goes online.
How much of Adobe RGB does an sRGB monitor show?
One that matches sRGB exactly covers 74.1% of Adobe RGB in CIE 1931 xy, and 85.7% in CIE 1976 u'v'.

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