Color Spaces 101: sRGB vs Display P3
How wide color gamuts impact web images and color profile embedding in browsers.
MV
Marcus Vance
Contributing Author · Squoosh Next BlogsRGB has been the de facto web color space since 1996, covering approximately 35% of all visible colors. Display P3, used in iPhone screens and Apple MacBook Pro displays since 2016, covers roughly 45% of visible colors, enabling significantly more vivid reds and greens. When you embed a Display P3 ICC profile in a JPEG or PNG, modern browsers such as Safari and Chrome will render those wider colors correctly on capable displays.
However, this increases file size by approximately 3KB for the profile alone and can cause unexpected color shifts when the image is used in environments that do not perform color management. For maximum compatibility, convert images to sRGB before web deployment unless wide color display fidelity is a product requirement.
Key Takeaways
sRGB has been the de facto web color space since 1996, covering approximately 35% of all visible colors.
Display P3, used in iPhone screens and Apple MacBook Pro displays since 2016, covers roughly 45% of visible colors, enabling significantly more vivid reds and greens.
When you embed a Display P3 ICC profile in a JPEG or PNG, modern browsers such as Safari and Chrome will render those wider colors correctly on capable displays.
However, this increases file size by approximately 3KB for the profile alone and can cause unexpected color shifts when the image is used in environments that do not perform color management.
Try It in the Workspace
Everything discussed in this article can be tested directly in Squoosh Next — no sign-up, no upload, 100% client-side.