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A
Annabel_Senior3756
Participant
May 7, 2025
Question

PNG colours turning dull when embedded

  • May 7, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 656 views

I've never has this issue until the recent Illustrator update, but whenever i embed a PNG it makes the colours dull and washed out. I have found a fix, which is unticking "convert to sRGB" when exporting as a PNG from Photoshop. However, this doesn't solve the problem for other product images that i use on a regular basis, that were created long before the new update that are now effected. I'd have to re-export every single image to solve the problem and there's hundreds of images.

 

I've attached an image, the one on the left is before embedding, the one on the right is after embedding.

    2 replies

    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 9, 2025

    Placing RGB images in a CMYK document will always show them as their converted CMYK version.

    Linked RGB images may look as CMYK in the Illustrator file, but can be kept as RGB in a PDF.

    Embedded RGB images will always be converted to CMYK in an Illustrator CMYK document.

      B
      Community Expert
      Bobby HendersonCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 7, 2025

      It sounds like you're embedding the PNG images into a CMYK document. When images are linked they'll maintain their own color model. When images are embedded they get converted to the document's color. CMYK has a more narrow gamut range than RGB. That's why the colors change to a more dull appearance when the image is embedded.

      A
      Annabel_Senior3756Author
      Participant
      May 7, 2025

      Thank for your reply. I did think this was the case, however it's never been an issue until the recent update 😞

        Anubhav M
        Community Manager
        Anubhav MCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        May 7, 2025

        Hello @Annabel_Senior3756,

        Could you try installing an earlier version of Illustrator (https://adobe.ly/3GYtpIU) to check if it helps resolve the problem?

        If yes, kindly share a link to a sample file along with screenshots of how the files look in both versions of Illustrator, so I can check it with the product team.

        Note: While sharing the file, kindly make the link public and enable the option to Save a Copy/Download under Link Settings (if available).

        Looking forward to hearing from you.

        Anubhav

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