How can I determine the actual color space of iPhone 8 JPEG photos when EXIF shows 65535?
Asked 5/17/2018
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2 answers
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My iPhone 8 JPEGs show EXIF ColorSpace = 65535, while older photos from another device show sRGB. I understand that 65535 in EXIF usually means "uncalibrated," but that does not tell me what color space the image actually uses. If I need to place these photos into a PDF and specify the correct color space, where should I look in the metadata, and what color space are iPhone 8 photos likely using?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
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For whatever reason, the ColorSpace tag is not very useful in EXIF. The only standard values are 1 (sRGB) and 65535 ("uncalibrated"). All other values are reserved. Some cameras use them to mean Adobe RGB or something else, but this is non-standard. Apple is, in fact, using Something Else, and that's found elsewhere in the metadata. With ExifTool, looking for tags starting with Profile, I found:
Profile CMM Type : Apple Computer Inc.
Profile Version : 4.0.0
Profile Class : Display Device Profile
Profile Connection Space : XYZ
Profile Date Time : 2017:07:07 13:22:32
Profile File Signature : acsp
Profile Creator : Apple Computer Inc.
Profile ID : ca1a9582257f104d389913d5d1ea1582
Profile Description : Display P3
Profile Copyright : Copyright Apple Inc., 2017
which leads us to Apple Core Graphics documentation which says:
displayP3
The name of the Display P3 color space, created by Apple Inc. This color space uses the DCI P3 primaries, a D65 white point, and the same gamma curve as the sRGB color space.
You can read more about the DCI-P3 colorspace on Wikipedia.
Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1943
8y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
EXIF ColorSpace isn’t reliable here. In the EXIF standard, the only defined values are 1 = sRGB and 65535 = “uncalibrated”; 65535 does not identify the real working space.
For iPhone 8 images, the better place to look is the embedded ICC/profile metadata, not the EXIF ColorSpace tag. Tools such as ExifTool can show profile fields like “Profile CMM Type” and related ICC profile entries. That embedded profile is what should be used when placing the image into a PDF.
Based on the provided answers, Apple is storing the real color information elsewhere in metadata, and current Apple devices/software commonly use Display P3 / DCI-P3. So if your file contains an embedded Apple ICC profile, use that profile; don’t assume sRGB just because EXIF is ambiguous.
In short: treat EXIF 65535 as “check the ICC profile,” and for iPhone 8 photos the actual color space is likely the embedded Apple Display P3 profile rather than sRGB.
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