sRGB

sRGB (standard RGB) is a colour space jointly developed by HP and Microsoft in 1996 and standardised by the International Electrotechnical Commission as IEC 61966-2-1. It specifies the exact red, green, and blue primaries that define how RGB numerical values map to perceived colours, plus a non-linear gamma curve approximating the response of a typical CRT monitor of the era.

sRGB is the implicit colour space of the web. When you write #FF6B35in CSS, you’re specifying a colour in sRGB. When a JPG file doesn’t embed a colour profile, sRGB is the assumed default. Browsers, image editors, and consumer monitors all default to sRGB.

Wider-gamut colour spaces — Display P3 (Apple, ~25% more colour volume than sRGB) and Rec.2020 (HDR video) — extend beyond sRGB’s triangle into deeper saturated colours that older displays can’t produce. CSS Color Module Level 4 supports both with color(display-p3 ...) and color(rec2020 ...) functions, but browser support is still uneven and most assets still ship in sRGB.

For everyday colour conversion (HEX ↔ RGB ↔ HSL), sRGB is the universal anchor. Use our colour converters for the math.