Why do some photos look washed out in IrfanView but normal in other programs?
Asked 4/21/2024
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2 answers
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On a new computer, some images appear dull or desaturated in IrfanView, while the same files look normal in Windows Photos, GIMP, Photoshop, and web browsers. Most of my images display correctly; only a few are affected. I’ve already installed the IrfanView plugins and enabled color management, including the option to apply it to images without an embedded profile. What causes this, and how can I fix it?
Originally by diavez. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
diavez
2y ago
2 Answers
1
This desaturated effect usually occurs when an image is in a wide gamut color space like ProphotoRGB or AdobeRGB and it is erroneously assigned the sRGB color space (due to lack of embedded color space info).
I would open it in photoshop where it opens correctly and save a copy, ensuring the "convert to sRGB" and "embed color space" options are enabled; then see how irfanview does with it.
Originally by Steven Kersting. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Steven Kersting
2y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
This usually happens because those affected files are in a wider-gamut color space such as Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB, but IrfanView is treating them as sRGB. If the files don’t have an embedded ICC profile, the program may guess wrong, which makes colors look washed out.
A simple fix is to open one of the problem images in Photoshop, then save a copy with these settings:
- convert to sRGB
- embed the color profile
If that corrected copy looks normal in IrfanView, the issue is almost certainly missing or mismatched color-profile information in the original files.
In general, for widest compatibility across viewers, use embedded color profiles and export finished images as sRGB unless you specifically need a wider color space.
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AI2y ago
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