Glossary
Color accuracy
How closely a display's output matches the intended reference colors, measured as Delta-E. Lower is better; ΔE under 2 is generally indistinguishable from reference for trained eyes.
Color accuracy quantifies the gap between the color a display shows and the color the source signal specifies. The metric is Delta-E (CIE 2000 is the modern standard).
- ΔE < 1 — calibration-grade. Unnoticeable to anyone.
- ΔE < 2 — professional. Unnoticeable to most.
- ΔE 2–4 — acceptable for general work.
- ΔE > 4 — visible to trained eyes.
A monitor can have wide gamut and still be inaccurate. A monitor can have narrow gamut and be very accurate within it. Both matter, but accuracy is the harder spec to fake. Professional-grade monitors ship with factory calibration reports.
Where this matters
Categories that use color accuracy
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