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Colour gamut
A gamut is the set of colours that can be accurately represented by a device or colour space.
Colour gamut, schematic. Shapes are drawn for illustration.
What the sources say
| Point | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Device limits | Device gamuts are always smaller than the human visible gamut | Wikipedia |
| Conversion | Converting to a smaller gamut loses information | Wikipedia |
| Diagram | Gamuts are commonly drawn within the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram | Wikipedia |
| Screen versus print | Monitors (RGB) and printers (CMYK) have different gamuts; some monitor colours cannot be reproduced with inks on paper | University of Delaware |
| Profile dependence | A colour out of gamut in one profile may be within gamut in another | University of Delaware |
For wall art
This is why a vivid screen colour can print duller: the print process cannot reach every colour the screen can show.
Where the sources stop
Wikipedia notes that a CMYK gamut could ideally match an RGB one but printed gamuts differ in practice; the University of Delaware says some screen colours cannot be printed with inks. We read both as usually narrower in saturated colours; neither gives a number.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Gamut (fetched 2026-11-12)
- University of Delaware: about color gamut (fetched 2026-11-12)
Figures from these pages are paraphrased; each page was fetched and read on 2026-11-12. Where two sources differ, both are shown.