Delta E CIE2000 Calculator

Compute CIEDE2000 with explicit positive parametric factors and same-white CIELAB inputs; supports neutral chroma and hue wrap, not a spectral color-match or universal perceptibility judgement.

Description

CIEDE2000 adjusts Lab color differences for lightness, chroma and hue interactions.

CIEDE2000 adjusts Lab color differences for lightness, chroma and hue interactions. Neutral chroma and hue wrapping require explicit handling.^{[1, 2]}

Enter two same-white Lab triples with L 0–100,a/b±200 and three positive parametric factors≤100. Adjust a/chroma, resolve neutral and wrapped hue cases, derive weighting/rotation terms and return the weighted difference.

When to use Delta E CIE2000 Calculator

Use Delta E CIE2000 Calculator when you need to evaluate the supplied records under the calculation and evidence rules below. No universal perceptibility threshold, spectral match or white-reference adaptation is supplied.

Prepare colors in the stated color space and scale. Use encoded RGB fractions, linear RGB, Lab, xy, byte values or ink percentages exactly as requested; supply caller tolerances and reference conditions.

How to use Delta E CIE2000 Calculator and understand its results

Prepare colors in the stated color space and scale. Use encoded RGB fractions, linear RGB, Lab, xy, byte values or ink percentages exactly as requested; supply caller tolerances and reference conditions.
Enter firstLab, secondLab, lightnessFactor, chromaFactor, hueFactor using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read ciede2000Difference. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
firstLab	First lab	list of number	Required
secondLab	Second lab	list of number	Required
lightnessFactor	Lightness factor	number	Required
chromaFactor	Chroma factor	number	Required
hueFactor	Hue factor	number	Required

ΔE00=sqrt(l²+c²+h²+RT×c×h)

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
ciede2000Difference	Ciede2000 difference	number

json

{
  "input": {
    "firstLab": [
      50,
      2.6772,
      -79.7751
    ],
    "secondLab": [
      50,
      0,
      -82.7485
    ],
    "lightnessFactor": 1,
    "chromaFactor": 1,
    "hueFactor": 1
  },
  "output": {
    "ciede2000Difference": 2.042459680156577
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

No universal perceptibility threshold, spectral match or white-reference adaptation is supplied.

Numeric inputs, where present, must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Numeric lists are limited to 10,000 entries; string lists to 128 strings of at most 128 characters each. The rules above may impose smaller limits. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Delta E CMC Calculator: CMC l:c color difference weights a sample relative to a chosen reference. Swapping reference and sample can change the result. For a complementary task, use Delta E CIE94 Calculator: CIE 94 weights color differences relative to a reference chroma. Graphics and textiles use different constants.

Further background: CIEDE2000 implementation notes and supplementary test data.

References

Delta E CIE2000 Calculator — tool.io
CIEDE2000 implementation notes and supplementary test data — Gaurav Sharma, University of Rochester

Similar or alternative tools

Delta E CMC Calculator
CMC l:c color difference weights a sample relative to a chosen reference. Swapping reference and sample can change the result.
Delta E CIE94 Calculator
CIE 94 weights color differences relative to a reference chroma. Graphics and textiles use different constants.