ICC PROFILES
What Are ICC Profiles
An ICC profile can be considered as the colorimetric identity card of a peripheral and will adjust the unique way a paper should be printed on a specific printer. We have ICC profiles for all the different media we use. Some of the profiles are the standard ones that come with the media and some are the ones we make ourselves.
How Are ICC Profiles Determined
Each profile each measured directly from a peripherical device. Standard printed areas having up to a few thousand of colour patches, are measured with the help of a colorimeter or spectrocolorimeter, and the outcoming datas will be computered to determine the profiles.
How Does This Work
The ICC profiles are based on L,a,b colour mode, which is the common language imposed by the colour management system, and the closer to the human vision. For instance a screen using the additive RGB synthesis and the subtractive CMYK printing of a paper, can only be adjusted by the mean of the common LAB language or values, which will be converted at every step of the printing chain, by the colour management system. The L,a,b mode is the main computing asset of the ICC (International Colour Consortium) architecture.
Source: Canson-Infinity website.