A Standard Default Color Space for the Internet - sRGB

Abstract

Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft propose the addition of support for a standard color space, sRGB, within the Microsoft operating systems, HP products, the Internet, and all other interested vendors. The aim of this color space is to complement the current color management strategies by enabling a third method of handling color in the operating systems, device drivers and the Internet that utilizes a simple and robust device independent color definition. This will provide good quality and backward compatibility with minimum transmission and system overhead. Based on a calibrated colorimetric RGB color space well suited to Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors, television, scanners, digital cameras, and printing systems, such a space can be supported with minimum cost to software and hardware vendors. Our intent here is to promote its adoption by showing the benefits of supporting a standard color space, and the suitability of the standard color space, sRGB, we are proposing. We will describe some of the system issues and propose a methodology for to implement support for sRGB and color management on the World Wide Web.