Understanding the Difference Between CMYK and RGB

Learn the difference between the CMYK and RGB gamuts to get the color results you're looking for.

Steve Caplin

Many people are confused about the difference between working in CMYK and RGB, so here’s a handy guide that explains how the two systems work.

Working in CMYK is like painting on paper. You start with a white sheet, and any colors you add make the paper darker. Here are circles in Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow.

Three circles in cyan, magenta, and yellow on white background with black rectangle to the right

If you combine Cyan and Magenta, you get blue.

Cyan and magenta circles overlapping to form blue over yellow circle with black rectangle to the right

If you combine Cyan and Yellow, you get green.

Cyan circle overlapping with magenta circle to form blue and overlapping with yellow circle to form green with black rectangle to the right

If you combine Yellow and Magenta, you get red.

Cyan and magenta circles overlapping to form blue, magenta and yellow circles overlapping to form red, black rectangle to the right

If you combine all three colors—Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow—you get black. Actually, you don’t: You get a dark brown instead. That’s why commercial printing adds a fourth color—Black—to make shadows richer. And that’s how we arrive at CMYK. There’s some argument over what K stands for, but the consensus is that it stands for Key.

Cyan, magenta, and yellow circles overlapping to form dark brown with black rectangle to the right

Working in RGB is exactly the opposite. You start with black, and any colors you add make the darkness brighter. Here are circles in Red, Green, and Blue.

CMYK diagram on left with blue, green, and red circles on black background

If you combine Red and Green, the result is brighter still: You get yellow.

CMYK diagram on left, blue, green, and red circles on black background on right with red and green overlapping to form yellow

If you combine Blue and Green, you get cyan.

CMYK diagram on left, blue and green circles overlapping to form cyan and green and red circles overlapping to form yellow on black background

If you combine Blue and Red, you get magenta.

CMYK diagram on the left, red circle overlapping with blue circle to form magenta and overlapping with green circle to form yellow on black background on the right

If you combine all three colors—Red, Green, and Blue—you get pure white. It’s worth noting here that RGB and CMYK are almost exact opposites: The overlaps inside the CMY circles make red, green and blue, while the overlaps inside the RGB circles make cyan, magenta and yellow.

CMYK diagram on the left, RGB diagram on the right

When you’re creating artwork for print, you need to be aware that the RGB color gamut is much wider than the CMYK gamut. This means you can create much brighter, more saturated colors in RGB than can ever be printed in CMYK.

Photo of clown with bright green hair and bright pink and purple shirt

If you’re working in RGB in any Creative Cloud program, you can check how the image will look when converted to CMYK by choosing View > Proof Colors, or using the shortcut Command/Ctrl+Y. Here, you can see how the saturated colors in this clown look much duller when converted to CMYK. So, if you’re working for print, you’ll need to adjust the colors to avoid disappointment later.

Photo of clown with green hair and pink and purple shirt

Check out the video version of this tutorial below and get a link to download the original artwork at https://www.2minutephotoshop.com/difference-between-rgb-and-cmyk/

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This article was last modified on June 8, 2022

This article was first published on December 13, 2017

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