Color shift in JPEG from PSD in Photoshop

[eugeniop78568976]

I have an sRGB PSD file with only one color: 30.50.143. I export to JPEG through Export As. I open the JPEG in PSD and check the color and it has shifted to 30.51.144. I have tried exporting with sRGB embedded and without and still the color shifts. No matter what I do, I can't end up with a JPEG with the color 30.50.143.

Can someone help? Thanks.

Message was edited by: Sahil Chawla

[Sahil.Chawla]

Hi Eugenio,

That shouldn't be happening, let's make it right.

As the image changes color inside Photoshop, could you please try changing the screen color profile to srgb iec61966 and let us know if it helps?

Change Color Profile for both Windows & macOS: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-change-my-monitor-profile-to-check-whether-its-corrupted/

Regards,

Sahil

[eugeniop78568976]

Hi Sahil,

My PSD color settings for RGB already is: sRGB IEC61966-2.1

My PSD file is RGB with the sRGB profile. I export to JPEG at 100% quality with the sRGB profile embedded. The color shifts from 30.50.143 to 30.51.144. Same thing when I export with no profile embedded.

[eugeniop78568976]

Could this be due to the JPEG compression even when there is only one color in the file?

[gener7]

Hi,

I reproduced your file using the supplied RGB values, sRGB space and saved as PSD

Export > Jpeg gave me about the same numbers you got on my Mac even at 100%  30,51,144 Same numbers with "Save for Web" So it's not just you.

I guess I don't see any visual difference because a shift in the B value by 1 is not noticeable.

I decided to try File > Save As... Jpeg and the numbers are the  same as the psd. So use that if it bothers you.

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

It's the jpeg compression. Trying different quality levels gives different varieties: 31-50-144, 30-51-144, 30-49-142, etc.

Jpeg is not supposed to be accurate, it's supposed to be small. The color component is more aggressively compressed than the luminance component. The theory is that the eye is less sensitive to small changes in color than small changes in tone. It's all done to reduce file size as much as possible.

It's not uncommon to see numbers shifting in jpeg, and even color banding in smooth gradients.

BTW, Exporting to PNG maintains the numbers.

[eugeniop78568976]

Thanks D Fosse and everyone else. I've suggested to the client to use PNG to maintain that color value or accept the imperceptible color shift in the JPEG. In this case, the PNG is smaller in file size too.

[eugeniop78568976]

When I try Save As... JPEG, the color still shifts. I tried with profile embedded and without and the color shifts either way. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Test Screen Name]

This is normal. People say JPEG is "lossy". What that means is that the colours will change. As you have found. If you don't want to change colours, don't use JPEG, it's simple!