--- title: RGB colors description: "# Information Although images can come in many file formats (.jpg, .png, .tiff) they will often be in one of the two most common color modes, CMYK or RGB. In short, CMYK is for printing, and RGB is for onscreen…" url: "https://pandagm.com/docs/rgb-colors/" updated: "2024-06-18" --- # RGB colors # Information Although images can come in many file formats (.jpg, .png, .tiff) they will often be in one of the two most common color modes, CMYK or RGB. In short, CMYK is for printing, and RGB is for onscreen display. Panda uses offset printing, which is a common large-scale commercial printing process. By combining just four colors of ink, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (or CMYK), millions of hues can be achieved. Offset printing produces colors accurately, is fast, and can handle extremely large print runs. All files submitted must be in CMYK color mode. If any of your graphics are in RGB, they will be unable to be printed accurately on our offset printer. In order to print your files, All files submitted must be in CMYK color mode. ### Best Practices In general, there are three best practices to creating PDFs with CMYK images. Each of those practices is described below. - Use CMYK images wherever possible from the very start of the file creation process. - Create PDF files with CMYK images using an appropriate FOGRA39-based export profile. - Check your pdf files for RGB images before uploading them to Panda. #### **Using CMYK images from throughout the file creation process.** Create files that use CMYK involves setting your various applications' color mode to CMYK. When your files are exported to a PDF, no additional conversion from RGB to CMYK will even be necessary. Please note that importing or placing RGB images may not necessarily result in a PDF that only has CMYK images. Setting the color mode as noted below will only create CMYK images from content that is created within that particular application. An example might be a logo created in Illustrator. If the the color mode is set to RGB, some additional conversion will have to take place to turn an RGB image into a CMYK image which could result in a color shift. If the color mode of Illustrator is set to CMYK, no additional conversion will be required - Set your application's color mode (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc) to CMYK. Images and objects created within the program will be in CMYK. ![](https://pandagm.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PANDA_HELP_34_Ill-CMYK-settings.jpg) #### **Use a FOGRA39 export profile when creating the final pdf** The last step to creating a file that is ready for print is exporting the file to the pdf format. Whether the file is exported from InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop, using a color profile that will automatically convert RGB images to CMYK images is important. Panda has a custom color profile based on FOGRA39, a print industry standard color profile. Our offset printers at the factory are also calibrated to the FOGRA39 color profile. Using a FOGRA39 color profile will create the most accurate color reproduction between your PDFs and the final printed product. To use the Panda Export Profile, it must be imported into the Adobe application you are using, and then chosen when you export to PDF. - Download the Panda Export Profile [here](https://pandagm.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/PandaExportProfile.zip). - Import the profile into InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop - Use Color Profile Correctly when exporting to pdf: ![](https://pandagm.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PANDA_HELP_39_InDe-FOGRA39-import.jpg) ![](https://pandagm.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PANDA_HELP_38_InDe-export-as-PDF.jpg) #### **Checking your PDF files for RGB images** If you are working within the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of applications, you probably have access to the Acrobat Pro application. Unlike Acrobat Reader, the Pro version is an incredibly powerful piece of software that does much more than just view a PDF. With Acrobat Pro you can create, combine, organize, edit and a myriad of other things with PDF files. Here at Panda, one of the most important uses of Acrobat Pro is to check files, which is all part of the design verification process. A Preflight Profile can analyze a pdf to check for dozens of different conditions. Panda has built two custom preflight profiles. Using these preflight profiles, you can analyze your document for RGB and low-resolution images. If you fix any issues before you upload your files, you will save time in the design verification process. Instructions on how to download, install, and run the preflight profiles are below. --- # Solutions Does your file have RGB images? Below are some suggestions for creating files with CMYK images. Using the best practices above will decrease the chance of having issues with RGB images. In general, you will need to go back into the source program that created the PDF to solve issues with RGB. Creating pdf's that have CMYK images is much easier than converting RGB images within a PDF with the use of Acrobat Pro. ### Issue: RGB image(s) 1. Use CMYK images throughout [see best practices], have your graphic designer convert RGB images to CMYK images for use in InDesign, etc. Then relink the RGB images to the newly converted CMYK images 1. If the source file is from Adobe Illustrator – Select [File > Document color mode > CMYK color] to set the document’s color mode to CMYK. Review and adjust your graphics to match the desired colors. Or… 1. If the source file is from Adobe Photoshop – Select [Image > Mode > CMYK] to set the file’s color mode to CMYK. 2. Check your pdf export settings, if needed change them PandaFogra39 export profile, this will most likely convert any RGB images to CMYK 1. see **Use a FOGRA39 export profile when creating the final pdf** above If the source file is from Adobe InDesign – Any linked images need to be converted to CMYK before importing to InDesign. Open the linked images in the application you designed them in, and adjust the mode to CMYK. Or….