A color profile is a simple file that expresses a color space or device response.
Richard Hughes
richard@hughsie.com

# What is a color profile?

A color profile is a set of data that characterizes either a device such as a projector or a color space such as sRGB.

Most color profiles are in the form of an ICC profile, which is a small file with a .ICC or .ICM file extension.

Color profiles can be embedded into images to specify the gamut range of the data. This ensures that users see the same colors on different devices.

Every device that is processing color should have its own ICC profile and when this is achieved the system is said to have an end-to-end color-managed workflow. With this kind of workflow you can be sure that colors are not being lost or modified.