Apple 12/600PS manual About ColorSync, How ColorSync works

About ColorSync

ColorSync is a system extension that provides color-conversion capabilities and improves color consistency. ColorSync “translates” the colors used on one device so that they match the colors displayed or printed on another device.

ColorSync color conversion is a central part of Macintosh computing, ensuring that programs, monitors, printers, scanners, and digital cameras use the same scheme for color conversion. This means you can scan an image, display it on your monitor, and print it—with visually matching colors every step of the way.

How ColorSync works

ColorSync does not convert colors directly from one device to another. Instead, ColorSync takes information about each device’s color capabilities and compares it to an independent color standard. In this way, it converts the colors produced on one device to closely matching colors that can be reproduced on another device.

Monitor ColorSync profile CIE color standard ColorSync profile Printer

1 ColorSync checks	2 ColorSync translates	3 If a device can’t
a device’s ColorSync	device-specific colors	reproduce a standard
profile for the device’s	to standard colors, which	color, ColorSync
color capabilities.	are not limited by	chooses the device’s
	the color capabilities	closest match.
	of any device.

ColorSync defines the colors a monitor, printer, scanner, or digital camera can reproduce in a ColorSync profile. ColorSync profiles are compatible with the profile specifications of the International Color Consortium (ICC).

Next, ColorSync converts device-specific colors into standard colors. The CIE color standard describes colors in terms of how they are perceived by the human eye under standardized lighting conditions. (CIE stands for the Commission International de l’Eclairage, the International Commission on Illumination, which founded the standard in 1931.)

292 Appendix D