Glossary
Delta-E
A numeric measurement of color difference between a target color and a measured color. ΔE < 1 is calibration-grade; ΔE < 2 is invisible to most viewers; ΔE > 4 is visible to anyone.
Delta-E quantifies how far a measured color sits from its reference in a perceptually-uniform color space. The modern variant is ΔE2000 (CIEDE2000), which corrects for non-uniformity in older ΔE76 measurements.
Bands
- < 1.0 — indistinguishable, even side-by-side.
- 1.0–2.0 — visible only to trained eyes on a reference patch.
- 2.0–4.0 — visible in continuous tones; acceptable for general work.
- > 4.0 — visible mismatch.
Average vs max
A reported average ΔE of 1.2 with a max of 6.3 means most colors are accurate but a handful are way off — usually deep blues or saturated reds. Look for both numbers, not just the average.
Where this matters
Categories that use delta-e
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