Traditionally colour spaces for computer graphics have been designed for specific devices - RGB for displays or CMY for printers. As such they are device dependent (and meaningless if applied to different devices or the same device in different conditions). Most computer graphics colour spaces are perceptually non-linear, i.e. colour differences vary throughout the space, this makes them inefficient for coding colour information. Another problem is that they can be unintuitive, by this we mean that a novice may find it difficult to specify a desired colour - for example selecting the colour brown in an RGB space.
A caveat.
The transforms in this section are generally simplifications of the real world. We strongly recommend reading the references at the end of this FAQ as well as Charles Poynton's ColorFAQ and GammaFAQ.
We assume all values are normalised to 1 unless otherwise stated.
Computer RGB colour space.
CMY(K) (Cyan Magenta Yellow (Black))
HSL and HSV (Hue Saturation and Lightness / Value)