Editing ColorSync (section)

==Profiles and color spaces==

As dictated by the ICC system, the ''profile connection space'' in ColorSync is the [[CIE 1931 color space|CIE XYZ color space]]. All image input and output devices (scanners, printers, displays) have to be characterized by providing an [[ICC profile]] that defines how their color information is to be interpreted relative to this reference color space. This profile might be provided by the device manufacturer, but for better quality results, it might be generated by performing actual measurements on the device with a [[Tristimulus colorimeter|colorimeter]]. Thus, when an image is scanned on a scanner, the image file will include a copy of the scanner's profile to characterize the meaning of its color information. Then, before the image is sent to an output device, a ''matching'' process converts the color information at the time of rendering from the ''source profile'' (that attached to the image) to the ''destination profile'' (that attached to the output device) so that the resulting colors print or display as closely as possible to the original image.