PNG Color Shift When Embedding in Illustrator – Adobe RGB Profiles Now Causing Issues

[OMNiArt]

Issue Summary:
We're experiencing a severe color shift issue when embedding transparent PNGs with Adobe RGB color profiles in Illustrator. This began recently and did not occur in previous versions. The same images look correct in Photoshop and when linked in Illustrator, but shift colors significantly when embedded — especially affecting skin tones and blues/purples.

Key Details:

• Our team uses thousands of transparent PNGs daily across our product catalog.

• We've experienced historical color issues with untagged PNGs, which we resolved last year by saving all assets via Photoshop's "Export As" to retain an embedded RGB profile (either sRGB or Adobe RGB).

• Until recently, both sRGB and Adobe RGB PNGs embedded without issue.

Current Problem (as of Sept 2025):

• PNGs with Adobe RGB profiles now shift color when embedded in Illustrator.

• PNGs with sRGB profiles do not shift when embedded.

• Strangely, previously-problematic untagged PNGs (no profile) now embed without color shifting.

• The color shift does not occur when images are linked — only when embedded.

Tested Versions:

• Illustrator 29.8.1 (Issue present)

• Illustrator 29.9.0 (9/12 update — Issue still present)

• Illustrator 29.7.1 (Issue still present)

• Downgrading to 29.5.1 resolves the issue — both Adobe RGB and sRGB PNGs embed without color shift.

Troubleshooting Steps Taken:

• Verified in multiple Illustrator versions

• Reset and adjusted color settings

• Confirmed consistent color profiles in Photoshop source files

• Reproduced issue across multiple machines

Impact:

• This bug is disrupting production and affecting the visual quality of thousands of assets.

• Our team’s standard workflow is to embed, not link, PNGs.

• We cannot afford to manually re-save or strip profiles across our entire image library as a workaround.

Request:

Please escalate this issue to the Illustrator engineering team. This regression is breaking functionality that previously worked reliably. Illustrator needs to properly honor Adobe RGB color profiles when embedding PNGs — just as it has in the past.

Thank you.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @OMNiArt,

Thanks so much for sharing all the detailed observations. Could you also share a sample screen recording or some screenshots showing the shift in action? That would help us document the issue more clearly for the team.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

[Ton Frederiks]

What is the Color Profile of the document you place (drag?) them in? sRGB, AdobeRGB?

How do your Color Settings look like?

Do you have the warnings turned on for Profile mismatches?

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @OMNiArt,

I hope that the expert's questions helped narrow things down. Please confirm if you are still experiencing the issue. A short screen recording showing the shift would be great.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

[OMNiArt]

I downgraded to correct issue. I haven't had a change to upgrade again and check if it works. This happened on my coworkers computer as well. It didn't matter how I color mangaged the Illustrator document, all PNGs with ADOBE RGB color profile embedded shifted in color not matter what.

We have so many preview issues across Adobe where our Adobe RGB PNGs shift in color. We've been beating our heads on it for the last couple years. The work around was just being sure the PNG wasn't "Untagged" and had a RGB color profile attached, any profile, didn't matter, it would stop the color shift (outside Preview) 99% of the time. In Preview mode, such as Export As, it would shift in color but ultimately save correctly.

Here's the layman's version of what we've been experiencing, wrote original post date:

We use transparent PNGs across our entire product catalog — thousands of images, used minute-to-minute in our daily processes. About two years ago, we started noticing radical, random color shifts from app to app. After digging in, we discovered that "Untagged PNGs" — those without an embedded RGB color profile — were the main culprit.

But here's the weird part: not all untagged PNGs shifted color. The most noticeable and frequent shifts occurred in images dominated by blue, purple, and gray tones. And, perhaps worst of all, models’ faces started appearing gaunt, gray, and ghoulish — even though they looked healthy in the source files.

We traced the problem back to how PNGs were being saved. Using “Save” or “Save As” in Photoshop strips the embedded RGB color profile from PNGs. This likely started when Adobe introduced “Export As” — based on what I found during research last year (though I could be wrong). Eventually, we realized that saving every transparent PNG via “Export As” preserved the color profile and stopped the shifting.

And here's what we found: it didn’t matter which profile — sRGB (for web) or Adobe RGB (for print) — as long as the PNG had an embedded profile, the color was consistent across apps, artboards, and saves. Even if the preview in the “Export As” window looked off, the actual file usage remained color-stable as long as the profile was embedded.

That discovery solved a huge, ongoing issue that had caused over a year of production headaches as we were building a library of thousands of images. Finally — problem solved.

Fast forward to now: we’ve discovered a new major issue in Illustrator 29.8.1.

Linked PNGs (with embedded profiles) now radically shift color when embedded. They look fine when linked, and they look fine in Photoshop. But the moment you embed them — bam, back to the ghoul-faced models. I’ve gone through every recommended troubleshooting step: toggling color management settings, testing different workflows — nothing fixes it. And now, if RGB color management is turned off entirely, they import already shifted.

Here’s the key update: PNGs with embedded sRGB profiles are embedding correctly — no color shift. But PNGs with embedded Adobe RGB profiles are now shifting color upon embed. That’s the opposite of what we were dealing with before.

This started happening just yesterday to our knowledge. We were on Illustrator version 29.8.1 (updated on 8/8, I believe) when we noticed it. I’ve now installed the 9/12 update for 29.8.1 — issue still persists. I even downgraded to 29.7.1 — still broken.

Even stranger: the previously problematic untagged PNGs now embed and display correctly without color shift, per our testing.

I don’t know how Adobe can’t get this right. Transparent PNGs are essential for countless workflows. Windows, Chrome, and nearly every image viewer handles them consistently — why has Adobe struggled so much with PNG color profiles over the last few years?

Last year alone, this color profile chaos cost us an estimated 300–400 hours of rework as we rebuilt our product image database. At the time, we didn’t fully understand what was happening — especially since not all untagged PNGs had issues. In some cases, we’d “fix” the color shift by blindly adjusting the source PSDs to compensate for how wrong they looked in Illustrator. We'd tweak, save, check, and repeat — over and over — until it looked right.

It was exhausting. And now it’s back — but in a new form.

We don’t use linked files in Illustrator. We embed everything. That’s our workflow. And I’m not about to go back through thousands of PNGs and start stripping RGB profiles just to workaround this new Illustrator bug — especially since that exact thing caused so many issues elsewhere.

The only fix that has worked so far? Downgrading to Illustrator 29.5.1. On that version, PNGs with embedded profiles — including Adobe RGB — embed without color shift.

But obviously, that’s not a long-term solution.

We need Adobe to fix this — across the suite — once and for all. This PNG color profile problem is getting worse, not better. These malfunctions are costing us time, money, and serious frustration. And it doesn’t have to be this way. PNGs used to preview and render correctly — for years. It just worked.

It’s time for it to work again. Thank you!

[Ton Frederiks]

What is the Color Profile of the document you place (drag?) them in? sRGB, AdobeRGB?

How do your Color Settings look like?

Do you have the warnings turned on for Profile mismatches?

[OMNiArt]

Yes, I tested sRGB, Adobe RGB, managed, unmanaged, warning on and off all of the above before coming here. I'm not lying that me and my team have been dealing with some form of this issue for almost two years. I went through all the troubleshooting I could.

Basically, no matter what the color settings are for the Illustrator document in the latest version, when Adobe RGB PNGs are EMBEDDED in the document, they shift in color, every time. Both my coworker and I are on Windows 11. We've downgraded Illustrator to work for now.

[OMNiArt]

Hello, now, the rest of our art department is experiencing the color shift when EMBEDDING Adobe RGB PNGs on version 29.8.1. Please see example attached. Only the Adobe RGB PNGs are experiencing the color shift in this example. The "Untagged" PNG didn't color shift like it sometime does. The sRGB stayed the same. Thank you!

Update: My coworker just downloaded the latest update and it's still experiencing color shift on the Adobe RGB PNGs when embedded: 

[OMNiArt]

Here's the downgraded Adobe Illustrator working:

[Ton Frederiks]

I have removed my tests since I cannot repeat them today. What is certain that the messages with the same settings are different between the previous (2024) and the current 2025 version. Will try again.

[OMNiArt]

Thank you for testing!

[Ton Frederiks]

I did some tests again and there is certainly something wrong. In 2025, whatever option you select, the result will be the same because the numbers are used instead of the profile.

The dialogs are different between 2024 and 2025 when Profile warnings are checked in the Color Settings.

Embedding an Adobe RGB image in an sRGB Illustrator 2025 document gives a different result when compared with an Illustrator 2024 document.

When the warnings for Profile mismatches are checked in the Color Settings (which they are not default), the user has a choice.

When embedding in 2024 the default is “Convert” (which tries to keep the color appearance and the result will look more or less the same).

When embedding in 2024 with the “Don't convert (preserve color numbers)” option (the color appearance will change visibly).

When embedding in 2025 the default is: “Use the embedded profile” (which will change the color appearance visibly).

When the option “Discard the embedded profile (don't color manage)” is chosen, the result is the same as the Use the embedded profile option (it also will change the color appearance visibly).

When the warnings for Profile mismatches are turned off in the Color Settings (which are off by default), the user has no choice and will see the color change in 2025 because the numbers are used instead of the profile.