Why does GIMP ask to convert "EPSON sRGB" to its built-in sRGB profile?
Asked 11/22/2019
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I'm scanning photos with an Epson Perfection V600 and opening the files in GIMP. When I open a scan, GIMP asks whether I want to convert the embedded profile from "EPSON sRGB" to "GIMP built-in sRGB." If both profiles are sRGB, why does GIMP prompt me, and is there any real difference between them?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
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The reason GIMP asks to switch is right there in the Copyright line.
sRGB is a standard, that’s what the “s” means. In principle there is no difference between these color profiles, they are both sRGB, but GIMP uses Public Domain and Epson claims a copyright implementation.
Contrary to another answer, TIF is normally lossless in both compressed and uncompressed.
For the vast majority of images, leave color correction on. It will compensate for scanner sensitivities to generally give a result better than turning off corrections. Turn off corrections and re-scan if you encounter and odd ball that the automatics don’t handle well. Correcting after scan eats into your available color depth, this may not be a problem if you are producing TIF-16, but in the vast majority of cases you’re probably better off letting the scanner correct and doing minor post scan tweaks.
Originally by user77199. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user77199
6y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
GIMP prompts you because the file has an embedded ICC profile named "EPSON sRGB," while GIMP’s working profile is its own built-in sRGB. Even though the names differ, both are intended to describe the same standard sRGB color space.
In practice, there is usually little or no visible difference. The prompt appears because GIMP detects that the embedded profile is not exactly the same file/profile as its default one, so it asks whether to keep the embedded profile or convert to the working profile.
For most scanned images, converting between these two sRGB profiles should not materially change the image. If you want consistency inside GIMP, converting to GIMP’s built-in sRGB is fine. If you prefer to preserve the scanner’s embedded profile metadata, keeping the Epson profile is also reasonable.
The key point: this is mainly a profile-management question, not a sign that anything is wrong with the scan.
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