The International Color Consortium was established in 1993 by eight industry vendors for the purpose of creating, promoting and encouraging the standardization and evolution of an open, vendor-neutral, cross-platform color management system architecture and components. The outcome of this co-operation was the development of the ICC profile specification.
The intent of the International Color Consortium® profile format is to provide a cross-platform device profile format. Device profiles can be used to translate color data created on one device into another device's native color space. The acceptance of this format by operating system vendors allows end users to transparently move profiles and images with embedded profiles between different operating systems. This permits tremendous flexibility to both users and vendors. For example, it allows users to be sure that their image will retain its color fidelity when moved between systems and applications. Furthermore, it allows a printer manufacturer to create a single profile for multiple operating systems.
The ICC specification is now widely used and has been specified in many international and other de-facto standards. It has been published as an International Standard, ISO 15076-1:2010. The specification continues to evolve and the current version represents a major improvement over the older versions. Profiles conforming to the new specification are called version 4 (v4) profiles. There are many advantages of v4 profiles, and all vendors of color management products are strongly urged to upgrade their products to be v4 compatible.
Most software applications that produce or use ICC profiles are v4-compatible, and there is a summary of the benefits of using v4. However, v2 continues to be supported.
ICC has also developed a next-generation color management profile format and architecture known as iccMAX. This new specification is not a replacement for v4, but adds extra functionality such as support for spectral data and the ability to use different profile connection spaces. iccMAX has been proposed as a new ISO specification and is under discussion by the relevant ISO Technical Committee.
The ICC is actively working to make the ICC specification more useful to the various constituencies that have adopted ICC workflows. Below is a list of current working groups, and more information about each group and its charter can be seen by visiting the links below. If you have any questions about the work of the ICC, or wish to join the ICC to work on these issues, please contact the ICC.
Current Working Groups:
- ARCHITECTURE WORKING GROUP
- DISPLAYS WORKING GROUP
- GRAPHIC ARTS SPECIAL INTEREST WORKING GROUP
- HDR WORKING GROUP
- ICC PROFILE ASSESSMENT WORKING GROUP
- MEDICAL IMAGING WORKING GROUP
- SPECIFICATION EDITING WORKING GROUP
- ICC STEERING COMMITTEE
ICC is the acknowledged leader in colour management. Members comprise all the key companies with colour management products across the entire spectrum, from specification and measurement through to cameras, displays, print, and especially software. For more infomation visit https://www.color.org/
