What effect do 'bad' ColorSync ICC profiles have on a Mac photo/video workflow?
Asked 11/20/2018
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ColorSync Utility on my Mac reports several ICC profiles as 'bad' after verification. The errors include malformed desc tags in some /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/... files and incorrect MD5 digests in several Adobe video/print profiles under /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Profiles/....
I use Lightroom, Photoshop, and Final Cut Pro, but I don't manually manage most color profiles beyond exporting images as Adobe RGB or sRGB. Can these profile verification errors affect image/video editing or exports, and is there a practical way to tell whether the flagged profiles matter to my workflow?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
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It looks to me like the desc tags are not used for any functionality. They are mainly for having a human-readable description of what's in the profile. According to Apple TechNote 1160:
The ICC Profile Format Specification (available at http://www.color.org) includes a Description tag ('desc'), designed to provide more information about a profile than can be contained in a file name. This is especially critical on file systems with 8.3 names. The tag data can consist of up to three separate pieces (strings) of information for a profile. These different strings are designed to allow for display in different languages or on different computer systems. Applications typically use one of the strings to show profiles in a list or a pop-up menu.
You are unlikely to want to use NTSC or PAL color profiles in photo editing. For Final Cut Pro work, it shouldn't be a problem as Final Cut Pro now works in the Rec-2020 color space. It will use profiles built into the app for converting between something like NTSC and Rec-2020 and wouldn't rely on a user or device-installed profile.
Originally by user22895. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user22895
6y ago
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Probably very little, if anything, in normal use.
From the errors shown, several are desc tag problems. That tag is mainly a human-readable description used for displaying profile names in lists/menus, not core color-conversion data. So those specific errors are unlikely to affect actual image processing.
The Adobe profiles with bad MD5 digests may simply fail verification rather than indicate broken color behavior. Also, some flagged profiles appear to be older/special-purpose ones like NTSC or PAL video profiles, which many users never touch.
So the practical side effects are usually limited to things like a profile name displaying oddly or a profile failing validation. If a profile is not selected anywhere in your apps or assigned to media, it won’t affect your work.
In short: if you’re working in ProPhoto, Adobe RGB, or sRGB and not explicitly choosing the flagged profiles, they are unlikely to impact your Lightroom/Photoshop/Final Cut workflow.
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