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SteveStLPhoto
Participant
May 20, 2025
Answered

How to delete unwanted ICC profiles - Win 11

  • May 20, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 1359 views

I would like to eliminate the laundry list of ICC profiles I have no use for. 

Correct answer Claire H.

Hi @SteveStLPhoto, Welcome to the Photoshop forums! Here are some ways that you can delete ICC Profiles in Photoshop:

 

For Windows:

- All profiles: C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color\

- Adobe-specific: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Color\Profiles\

 

You can delete unused profiles from these folders. Just be careful not to remove system-critical ones. You can manually browse the folders or use a third-party tool. Even after deleting profiles, Photoshop may list some due to embedded printer drivers and profiles bundled with other Adobe apps.

 

To reduce clutter, Restart Photoshop after deleting profiles. Then, go to Edit > Color Settings and adjust how profiles are handled. When saving files, uncheck “Embed Color Profile” if it's not needed. I hope this helps! ^CH

2 replies

Conrad_C
Community Expert
Conrad_CCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 21, 2025

Also keep in mind that ICC profiles are often part of standard installer scripts for various applications and device drivers (like printer drivers), so be aware that if you delete some, a future update installer might put them back anyway if it notices they’re missing. This is probably more true for profiles stored at the system level vs the user level.

 

I don’t bother to manage profiles because they take up very little space compared to other types of files.

 

If the problem is that the large number of profiles makes profile menus so long that it’s a chore to scroll the menu to the right profile, I get around that using type-ahead. I pop open a menu and type the first few letters of the profile I want so that the menu scrolls itself to and selects that item, or one close enough, so that I don’t have to scroll the whole menu myself.

Claire H.
Community Manager
Claire H.Community ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
May 20, 2025

Hi @SteveStLPhoto, Welcome to the Photoshop forums! Here are some ways that you can delete ICC Profiles in Photoshop:

 

For Windows:

- All profiles: C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color\

- Adobe-specific: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Color\Profiles\

 

You can delete unused profiles from these folders. Just be careful not to remove system-critical ones. You can manually browse the folders or use a third-party tool. Even after deleting profiles, Photoshop may list some due to embedded printer drivers and profiles bundled with other Adobe apps.

 

To reduce clutter, Restart Photoshop after deleting profiles. Then, go to Edit > Color Settings and adjust how profiles are handled. When saving files, uncheck “Embed Color Profile” if it's not needed. I hope this helps! ^CH

Per Berntsen
Community Expert
Per BerntsenCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 21, 2025

Unchecking ICC profile in the Save dialog in not recommended.

The file will now be untagged, and color managed applications will not be able to do their standard conversion from the document (embedded) profile to the monitor profile in order to display correct colors.

Photoshop will ask you what profile to assign (if set up to do so), other applications might assign sRGB, which may or may not be the correct profile.

 

Web browsers will assign sRGB to untagged files, but will display wrong colors if the image was created in a different color space, like for instance Adobe RGB.

Printing an untagged file will also most likely result in wrong colors.

 

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