Documentation/media/uapi/v4l/colorspaces.rst - linux - Git at Google

 .. -*- coding: utf-8; mode: rst -*-

 .. _colorspaces:

 ***********
 Colorspaces
 ***********

 'Color' is a very complex concept and depends on physics, chemistry and
 biology. Just because you have three numbers that describe the 'red',
 'green' and 'blue' components of the color of a pixel does not mean that
 you can accurately display that color. A colorspace defines what it
 actually *means* to have an RGB value of e.g. (255, 0, 0). That is,
 which color should be reproduced on the screen in a perfectly calibrated
 environment.

 In order to do that we first need to have a good definition of color,
 i.e. some way to uniquely and unambiguously define a color so that
 someone else can reproduce it. Human color vision is trichromatic since
 the human eye has color receptors that are sensitive to three different
 wavelengths of light. Hence the need to use three numbers to describe
 color. Be glad you are not a mantis shrimp as those are sensitive to 12
 different wavelengths, so instead of RGB we would be using the
 ABCDEFGHIJKL colorspace...

 Color exists only in the eye and brain and is the result of how strongly
 color receptors are stimulated. This is based on the Spectral Power
 Distribution (SPD) which is a graph showing the intensity (radiant
 power) of the light at wavelengths covering the visible spectrum as it
 enters the eye. The science of colorimetry is about the relationship
 between the SPD and color as perceived by the human brain.

 Since the human eye has only three color receptors it is perfectly
 possible that different SPDs will result in the same stimulation of
 those receptors and are perceived as the same color, even though the SPD
 of the light is different.

 In the 1920s experiments were devised to determine the relationship
 between SPDs and the perceived color and that resulted in the CIE 1931
 standard that defines spectral weighting functions that model the
 perception of color. Specifically that standard defines functions that
 can take an SPD and calculate the stimulus for each color receptor.
 After some further mathematical transforms these stimuli are known as
 the *CIE XYZ tristimulus* values and these X, Y and Z values describe a
 color as perceived by a human unambiguously. These X, Y and Z values are
 all in the range [0…1].

 The Y value in the CIE XYZ colorspace corresponds to luminance. Often
 the CIE XYZ colorspace is transformed to the normalized CIE xyY
 colorspace:

 x = X / (X + Y + Z)

 y = Y / (X + Y + Z)

 The x and y values are the chromaticity coordinates and can be used to
 define a color without the luminance component Y. It is very confusing
 to have such similar names for these colorspaces. Just be aware that if
 colors are specified with lower case 'x' and 'y', then the CIE xyY
 colorspace is used. Upper case 'X' and 'Y' refer to the CIE XYZ
 colorspace. Also, y has nothing to do with luminance. Together x and y
 specify a color, and Y the luminance. That is really all you need to
 remember from a practical point of view. At the end of this section you
 will find reading resources that go into much more detail if you are
 interested.

 A monitor or TV will reproduce colors by emitting light at three
 different wavelengths, the combination of which will stimulate the color
 receptors in the eye and thus cause the perception of color.
 Historically these wavelengths were defined by the red, green and blue
 phosphors used in the displays. These *color primaries* are part of what
 defines a colorspace.

 Different display devices will have different primaries and some
 primaries are more suitable for some display technologies than others.
 This has resulted in a variety of colorspaces that are used for
 different display technologies or uses. To define a colorspace you need
 to define the three color primaries (these are typically defined as x, y
 chromaticity coordinates from the CIE xyY colorspace) but also the white
 reference: that is the color obtained when all three primaries are at
 maximum power. This determines the relative power or energy of the
 primaries. This is usually chosen to be close to daylight which has been
 defined as the CIE D65 Illuminant.

 To recapitulate: the CIE XYZ colorspace uniquely identifies colors.
 Other colorspaces are defined by three chromaticity coordinates defined
 in the CIE xyY colorspace. Based on those a 3x3 matrix can be
 constructed that transforms CIE XYZ colors to colors in the new
 colorspace.

 Both the CIE XYZ and the RGB colorspace that are derived from the
 specific chromaticity primaries are linear colorspaces. But neither the
 eye, nor display technology is linear. Doubling the values of all
 components in the linear colorspace will not be perceived as twice the
 intensity of the color. So each colorspace also defines a transfer
 function that takes a linear color component value and transforms it to
 the non-linear component value, which is a closer match to the
 non-linear performance of both the eye and displays. Linear component
 values are denoted RGB, non-linear are denoted as R'G'B'. In general
 colors used in graphics are all R'G'B', except in openGL which uses
 linear RGB. Special care should be taken when dealing with openGL to
 provide linear RGB colors or to use the built-in openGL support to apply
 the inverse transfer function.

 The final piece that defines a colorspace is a function that transforms
 non-linear R'G'B' to non-linear Y'CbCr. This function is determined by
 the so-called luma coefficients. There may be multiple possible Y'CbCr
 encodings allowed for the same colorspace. Many encodings of color
 prefer to use luma (Y') and chroma (CbCr) instead of R'G'B'. Since the
 human eye is more sensitive to differences in luminance than in color
 this encoding allows one to reduce the amount of color information
 compared to the luma data. Note that the luma (Y') is unrelated to the Y
 in the CIE XYZ colorspace. Also note that Y'CbCr is often called YCbCr
 or YUV even though these are strictly speaking wrong.

 Sometimes people confuse Y'CbCr as being a colorspace. This is not
 correct, it is just an encoding of an R'G'B' color into luma and chroma
 values. The underlying colorspace that is associated with the R'G'B'
 color is also associated with the Y'CbCr color.

 The final step is how the RGB, R'G'B' or Y'CbCr values are quantized.
 The CIE XYZ colorspace where X, Y and Z are in the range [0…1] describes
 all colors that humans can perceive, but the transform to another
 colorspace will produce colors that are outside the [0…1] range. Once
 clamped to the [0…1] range those colors can no longer be reproduced in
 that colorspace. This clamping is what reduces the extent or gamut of
 the colorspace. How the range of [0…1] is translated to integer values
 in the range of [0…255] (or higher, depending on the color depth) is
 called the quantization. This is *not* part of the colorspace
 definition. In practice RGB or R'G'B' values are full range, i.e. they
 use the full [0…255] range. Y'CbCr values on the other hand are limited
 range with Y' using [16…235] and Cb and Cr using [16…240].

 Unfortunately, in some cases limited range RGB is also used where the
 components use the range [16…235]. And full range Y'CbCr also exists
 using the [0…255] range.

 In order to correctly interpret a color you need to know the
 quantization range, whether it is R'G'B' or Y'CbCr, the used Y'CbCr
 encoding and the colorspace. From that information you can calculate the
 corresponding CIE XYZ color and map that again to whatever colorspace
 your display device uses.

 The colorspace definition itself consists of the three chromaticity
 primaries, the white reference chromaticity, a transfer function and the
 luma coefficients needed to transform R'G'B' to Y'CbCr. While some
 colorspace standards correctly define all four, quite often the
 colorspace standard only defines some, and you have to rely on other
 standards for the missing pieces. The fact that colorspaces are often a
 mix of different standards also led to very confusing naming conventions
 where the name of a standard was used to name a colorspace when in fact
 that standard was part of various other colorspaces as well.

 If you want to read more about colors and colorspaces, then the
 following resources are useful: :ref:`poynton` is a good practical
 book for video engineers, :ref:`colimg` has a much broader scope and
 describes many more aspects of color (physics, chemistry, biology,
 etc.). The
 `http://www.brucelindbloom.com <http://www.brucelindbloom.com>`__
 website is an excellent resource, especially with respect to the
 mathematics behind colorspace conversions. The wikipedia
 `CIE 1931 colorspace <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIE_1931_color_space#CIE_xy_chromaticity_diagram_and_the_CIE_xyY_color_space>`__
 article is also very useful.
	.. -- coding: utf-8; mode: rst --

	.. _colorspaces:

	***********
	Colorspaces
	***********

	'Color' is a very complex concept and depends on physics, chemistry and
	biology. Just because you have three numbers that describe the 'red',
	'green' and 'blue' components of the color of a pixel does not mean that
	you can accurately display that color. A colorspace defines what it
	actually means to have an RGB value of e.g. (255, 0, 0). That is,
	which color should be reproduced on the screen in a perfectly calibrated
	environment.

	In order to do that we first need to have a good definition of color,
	i.e. some way to uniquely and unambiguously define a color so that
	someone else can reproduce it. Human color vision is trichromatic since
	the human eye has color receptors that are sensitive to three different
	wavelengths of light. Hence the need to use three numbers to describe
	color. Be glad you are not a mantis shrimp as those are sensitive to 12
	different wavelengths, so instead of RGB we would be using the
	ABCDEFGHIJKL colorspace...

	Color exists only in the eye and brain and is the result of how strongly
	color receptors are stimulated. This is based on the Spectral Power
	Distribution (SPD) which is a graph showing the intensity (radiant
	power) of the light at wavelengths covering the visible spectrum as it
	enters the eye. The science of colorimetry is about the relationship
	between the SPD and color as perceived by the human brain.

	Since the human eye has only three color receptors it is perfectly
	possible that different SPDs will result in the same stimulation of
	those receptors and are perceived as the same color, even though the SPD
	of the light is different.

	In the 1920s experiments were devised to determine the relationship
	between SPDs and the perceived color and that resulted in the CIE 1931
	standard that defines spectral weighting functions that model the
	perception of color. Specifically that standard defines functions that
	can take an SPD and calculate the stimulus for each color receptor.
	After some further mathematical transforms these stimuli are known as
	the CIE XYZ tristimulus values and these X, Y and Z values describe a
	color as perceived by a human unambiguously. These X, Y and Z values are
	all in the range [0…1].

	The Y value in the CIE XYZ colorspace corresponds to luminance. Often
	the CIE XYZ colorspace is transformed to the normalized CIE xyY
	colorspace:

	x = X / (X + Y + Z)

	y = Y / (X + Y + Z)

	The x and y values are the chromaticity coordinates and can be used to
	define a color without the luminance component Y. It is very confusing
	to have such similar names for these colorspaces. Just be aware that if
	colors are specified with lower case 'x' and 'y', then the CIE xyY
	colorspace is used. Upper case 'X' and 'Y' refer to the CIE XYZ
	colorspace. Also, y has nothing to do with luminance. Together x and y
	specify a color, and Y the luminance. That is really all you need to
	remember from a practical point of view. At the end of this section you
	will find reading resources that go into much more detail if you are
	interested.

	A monitor or TV will reproduce colors by emitting light at three
	different wavelengths, the combination of which will stimulate the color
	receptors in the eye and thus cause the perception of color.
	Historically these wavelengths were defined by the red, green and blue
	phosphors used in the displays. These color primaries are part of what
	defines a colorspace.

	Different display devices will have different primaries and some
	primaries are more suitable for some display technologies than others.
	This has resulted in a variety of colorspaces that are used for
	different display technologies or uses. To define a colorspace you need
	to define the three color primaries (these are typically defined as x, y
	chromaticity coordinates from the CIE xyY colorspace) but also the white
	reference: that is the color obtained when all three primaries are at
	maximum power. This determines the relative power or energy of the
	primaries. This is usually chosen to be close to daylight which has been
	defined as the CIE D65 Illuminant.

	To recapitulate: the CIE XYZ colorspace uniquely identifies colors.
	Other colorspaces are defined by three chromaticity coordinates defined
	in the CIE xyY colorspace. Based on those a 3x3 matrix can be
	constructed that transforms CIE XYZ colors to colors in the new
	colorspace.

	Both the CIE XYZ and the RGB colorspace that are derived from the
	specific chromaticity primaries are linear colorspaces. But neither the
	eye, nor display technology is linear. Doubling the values of all
	components in the linear colorspace will not be perceived as twice the
	intensity of the color. So each colorspace also defines a transfer
	function that takes a linear color component value and transforms it to
	the non-linear component value, which is a closer match to the
	non-linear performance of both the eye and displays. Linear component
	values are denoted RGB, non-linear are denoted as R'G'B'. In general
	colors used in graphics are all R'G'B', except in openGL which uses
	linear RGB. Special care should be taken when dealing with openGL to
	provide linear RGB colors or to use the built-in openGL support to apply
	the inverse transfer function.

	The final piece that defines a colorspace is a function that transforms
	non-linear R'G'B' to non-linear Y'CbCr. This function is determined by
	the so-called luma coefficients. There may be multiple possible Y'CbCr
	encodings allowed for the same colorspace. Many encodings of color
	prefer to use luma (Y') and chroma (CbCr) instead of R'G'B'. Since the
	human eye is more sensitive to differences in luminance than in color
	this encoding allows one to reduce the amount of color information
	compared to the luma data. Note that the luma (Y') is unrelated to the Y
	in the CIE XYZ colorspace. Also note that Y'CbCr is often called YCbCr
	or YUV even though these are strictly speaking wrong.

	Sometimes people confuse Y'CbCr as being a colorspace. This is not
	correct, it is just an encoding of an R'G'B' color into luma and chroma
	values. The underlying colorspace that is associated with the R'G'B'
	color is also associated with the Y'CbCr color.

	The final step is how the RGB, R'G'B' or Y'CbCr values are quantized.
	The CIE XYZ colorspace where X, Y and Z are in the range [0…1] describes
	all colors that humans can perceive, but the transform to another
	colorspace will produce colors that are outside the [0…1] range. Once
	clamped to the [0…1] range those colors can no longer be reproduced in
	that colorspace. This clamping is what reduces the extent or gamut of
	the colorspace. How the range of [0…1] is translated to integer values
	in the range of [0…255] (or higher, depending on the color depth) is
	called the quantization. This is not part of the colorspace
	definition. In practice RGB or R'G'B' values are full range, i.e. they
	use the full [0…255] range. Y'CbCr values on the other hand are limited
	range with Y' using [16…235] and Cb and Cr using [16…240].

	Unfortunately, in some cases limited range RGB is also used where the
	components use the range [16…235]. And full range Y'CbCr also exists
	using the [0…255] range.

	In order to correctly interpret a color you need to know the
	quantization range, whether it is R'G'B' or Y'CbCr, the used Y'CbCr
	encoding and the colorspace. From that information you can calculate the
	corresponding CIE XYZ color and map that again to whatever colorspace
	your display device uses.

	The colorspace definition itself consists of the three chromaticity
	primaries, the white reference chromaticity, a transfer function and the
	luma coefficients needed to transform R'G'B' to Y'CbCr. While some
	colorspace standards correctly define all four, quite often the
	colorspace standard only defines some, and you have to rely on other
	standards for the missing pieces. The fact that colorspaces are often a
	mix of different standards also led to very confusing naming conventions
	where the name of a standard was used to name a colorspace when in fact
	that standard was part of various other colorspaces as well.

	If you want to read more about colors and colorspaces, then the
	following resources are useful: :ref:`poynton` is a good practical
	book for video engineers, :ref:`colimg` has a much broader scope and
	describes many more aspects of color (physics, chemistry, biology,
	etc.). The
	`http://www.brucelindbloom.com <http://www.brucelindbloom.com>`__
	website is an excellent resource, especially with respect to the
	mathematics behind colorspace conversions. The wikipedia
	`CIE 1931 colorspace <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIE_1931_color_space#CIE_xy_chromaticity_diagram_and_the_CIE_xyY_color_space>`__
	article is also very useful.