XYZ refers to a colour space called ‘CIE XYZ’, which is also known as the CIE 1931 XYZ colour space. CIE stands for the Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage, i.e. the International Commission on Illumination, and XYZ refers to the mathematical coordinates of the colour space. For one customer, we print XYZ-EPS targets in the maximum colour space of our proofing systems. So if you have printed XYZ data, please contact us at any time.
The CIE XYZ colour space is a device-independent colour space that was developed by the CIE to model human colour perception. It is based on the primary colours X, Y and Z and serves as a reference for other colour spaces and colour models. The XYZ colour space forms a link between the physical properties of light and the human perception of colour.
In the XYZ colour space, all colours are represented as three-dimensional coordinates, X, Y and Z represent the brightness and the proportion of the respective primary colour. The Y value represents the brightness or luminance of the colour, while X and Z are the colour coordinates that indicate the spectral component of the colour.
The CIE XYZ colour space forms the basis for other colour spaces such as the CIE Lab colour space (see also the free CIELAB HLC colour atlas, whereby HLC represents a different form of the CIELAB colour space) and the RGB colour space. By converting between different colour spaces, colours can be displayed and reproduced in different systems.
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