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So, I'm aware that some browsers correct the colors in images in accordance with system settings, and that browsers differ in how they do this. But I'm very surprised when a color specified in a stylesheet appears different from one browser to another on the same system.

With the latest Safari and Firefox, if I draw a div with background: #885500, I get a box with that color (as confirmed by the native DigitalColor Meter app):

Chrome screenshot

But when I load the same page in Chrome (Mac version 12.0.742.91) on the same system, a MacBook Pro with the default "Color LCD" display profile set, I get a noticeably different-colored box (DigitalColor Meter reports #a34d00—much more red, a bit less green):

Safari screenshot

I tried a few different color profiles, and found that the color reported by DigitalColor Meter changed under Chrome. It stays constant in Safari.

What's going on? Is it that Chrome is adjusting its colors depending on the system's display profile, or is it that Safari and Firefox are doing so? Does this happen under other operating systems, or is it purely a Mac phenomenon? And is there any way, from CSS/JavaScript, to detect/prevent this behavior so that colors are consistent across modern browsers on the same system?

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    Not sure why this was migrated... this question is about web development, not ops. Jun 14, 2011 at 19:18

1 Answer 1

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This is a known issue. Please see Chromium issue #44872.

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  • Ugh, and it's been open for more than a year? Well, thanks for the prompt answer. Good to know that this is a bug in Chrome, as I suspected, and I hope this will be fixed soon-ish. Scary that the browser of choice among web developers is displaying their colors incorrectly...
    – Trevor Burnham
    Jun 14, 2011 at 1:13
  • There are also several issues with Chrome and ICC-tagged images. Firefox 4 also regressed in color-management in some areas on OS X.
    – Andrew Marshall
    Jun 14, 2011 at 1:14
  • I'm now having the exact opposite effect listed in the Chromium issue linked above. Chrome looks good, but Firefox has mis-matched colors. I think this page touches on the issues, but it's a bit beyond me. bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=999600
    – Mysterfxit
    Mar 21, 2019 at 19:31
  • @Mysterfxit Visit about:config and set gfx.color_management.mode to 1. Mar 22, 2019 at 2:32
  • thanks, I’ve seen that. I just find it curious that the browsers handling of it is reversed now and I’m not sure why. A banner ad with inconsistent image profile tags caused me a headache today and brought me here.
    – Mysterfxit
    Mar 22, 2019 at 3:10

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