The difference between CMYK and RGB

Dec. 15, 2022

       What is RGB color? What is CMYK color? What are their principles? Let RX packaging answer you one by one today.

The difference between CMYK and RGB


       RGB is the display standard of monitors, and CMYK is the color standard of printers.


       There is a big difference between CMYK and RGB: RGB mode is a luminous color mode, so that you can still see the content on the screen in a dark room; CMYK is a color mode that relies on reflection. It is impossible to see the content in the dark.


       Therefore, as long as the image is displayed on the screen by the light source, it is expressed in RGB mode. As long as the image seen by absorbing the light source on the printed matter is expressed in CMYK mode.


       These two standards are formulated because display devices and printers are two completely different industries. RGB is used for online pictures, which can present high-definition, high-saturation and contrasting colors. CMYK is used for advertising media, and natural colors and clear fonts can be obtained. print effect.


       Due to the difference between the way of synthesizing colors and the way of displaying pictures, there will be a color difference between the CMYK and rgb color gamuts. The actual display of CMYK colors will be darker than the RGB display pictures. Because the rgb colors are the color gamut produced by light, so It will cause the overall color gamut to be brighter, and the color of CMYK is the color gamut produced by reflection, so it will appear dim


       The main differences are: RGB is the additive color mixing mode, CMYK is the subtractive color mixing mode; RGB is the luminous mode, which is the color mixed by the object itself, and CMYK is the reflective mode, which uses the light absorption of the object or the pigment to emit light. The properties of light to produce color.


       Next, we disassemble and analyze CMYK, and we can clearly understand the differences and connections between RGB and CMYK.


                   C : absorption R (red), reflection G (green) + B (blue) = C (cyan);


                   M : Absorption G (green), reflection R (red) + B (blue) = M (magenta);


                   Y : absorption B (blue), reflection R (red) + G (green) = Y (yellow);


                   K : Black, the superposition of three colors can form black, but this black is not pure, and ink is wasted during printing, so black is introduced, and the printed black is more pure.


       RGB and CMYK have interchange formulas, and the results of the interchange formulas will be affected by various factors, resulting in color differences that require readjustment, so there is no fixed interchange formula. Everything is adjusted to the general formula according to the actual situation.