Short answer
Use sRGB for anything going to the web, to most clients or to software you do not control; use Adobe RGB (1998) only in a colour-managed workflow aimed at print, where its wider cyan-green range matches what inks can reproduce. Adobe RGB is not simply 'bigger P3': it reaches further into cyans and teals than Display P3 but no further into reds, so neither contains the other.
Adobe RGB (1998) was published as a working space for editing images destined for print. It keeps the sRGB red and blue primaries but moves green out to x 0.21, y 0.71, which pushes the gamut into the saturated cyan-greens that CMYK inks, especially cyan, can print but sRGB cannot contain. Its tone curve is a simple power of 563/256, about 2.2, with no linear toe, and its reference white is D65 at a brighter 160 cd/m². The design goal was an RGB space large enough to hold typical press gamuts without wasting codes on colours no print could reach.
Plotting the two triangles shows why they are often confused and why neither is a superset. Adobe RGB's green primary sits further out towards cyan; P3's green sits further towards yellow and P3's red is more saturated than Adobe RGB's (which is the same as sRGB's). In practice, at mid lightness Adobe RGB offers noticeably more chroma than P3 in teal and cyan, while P3 offers more in reds, oranges and magentas. A photographer choosing between them is choosing which colours to keep: sea and foliage detail for print, or reds and warm tones for modern screens.
Many 'wide-gamut' monitors sold for photography target Adobe RGB coverage, while phones and laptops target P3. A single screen rarely covers both fully.
Spreading 256 codes per channel across a larger gamut makes each step bigger, so 8-bit Adobe RGB files are more prone to banding in smooth gradients than 8-bit sRGB; editing in 16 bits per channel avoids that. The more common cost is operational. An Adobe RGB file shown by software that assumes sRGB looks flat and dull, because its numbers are reinterpreted as less saturated sRGB colours. Social platforms, messaging apps and some content-management systems strip or ignore profiles, which is why an Adobe RGB file shared casually so often looks worse than the same shot exported to sRGB.
Capture in the camera's raw format so the choice is not baked in. Edit in a wide space at 16 bits if the output is print or if you will produce several deliverables. Export a separate file for each destination: sRGB with an embedded profile for the web and general sharing; Adobe RGB or the print provider's requested space for colour-managed print; Display P3 only where you know it will be served to capable screens. Keeping one master and converting per destination avoids the double conversions and stripped profiles that cause most of the visible damage.
| Hue | sRGB | Adobe RGB (1998) | Display P3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red (30°) | 0.241 | 0.241 | 0.269 |
| Yellow-orange (90°) | 0.123 | 0.130 | 0.142 |
| Green (145°) | 0.189 | 0.238 | 0.256 |
| Cyan (195°) | 0.102 | 0.174 | 0.138 |
| Blue (265°) | 0.217 | 0.224 | 0.233 |
| Magenta (330°) | 0.274 | 0.274 | 0.300 |
Why: The Adobe RGB file was shared directly; the platform discarded the profile and displayed the numbers as sRGB.
Fix: Export a separate sRGB copy for sharing.
Why: Large tonal edits in an 8-bit wide-gamut file.
Fix: Edit at 16 bits per channel and convert to 8-bit only on export.
Each statement is labelled by kind — established fact, a standard’s requirement, observed market data, a convention, or Colourwise’s own interpretation or analysis — with the strength of the evidence behind it.
StandardStrong evidence
Adobe RGB (1998) shares the sRGB red and blue primaries, uses a green primary at x 0.21, y 0.71, a D65 white, a pure power transfer function with exponent 563/256 and a white luminance of 160 cd/m².
Source: Adobe RGB (1998) color image encoding; CSS Color Module Level 4
FactModerate evidence
Adobe describes Adobe RGB (1998) as a working space with a relatively large, balanced gamut that can be repurposed for reproduction on a variety of devices.
Colourwise analysisStrong evidence
At OKLCH lightness 0.6, Adobe RGB permits more chroma than Display P3 in cyan (around hue 195°) while Display P3 permits more in reds and magentas, so neither gamut contains the other.
Based on: Computed by Colourwise from each space's published primaries; see the table on this page.
Source: Adobe RGB (1998) color image encoding; ICC colour encoding registry: Display P3; A perceptual color space for image processing (Oklab)
Colourwise interpretationModerate evidence
Sharing wide-gamut files through services that strip or ignore embedded profiles is the most common reason Adobe RGB images look dull to recipients.
Based on: Follows from CSS and browser behaviour of treating untagged images as sRGB, applied to images whose numbers were encoded in a wider space.
Reviewed 29 September 2026. Colourwise summarises its sources in its own words and does not reproduce standards text or proprietary colour data. Spotted an error? Tell us.