Why are image colors inconsistent in different applications after monitor calibration?

Question

I have calibrated my monitor using a colorimenter, however I found out that the colors appear different in different applications. I have created two test images and opened them in several applications. Here are the comparisons:

Black to white gradient: https://i.stack.imgur.com/hrFVx.png

Red to 50% gray gradient: https://i.stack.imgur.com/CNys5.png

As you can see, the gray levels are different in Photoshop and Lightroom. Then in the web browsers, Chrome and Firefox are quite similar to Lightroom, although Chrome's gray levels are a bit brighter. Internet Explorer and the Windows Photos app look darker and have more saturated colors.

Another comparison of this web page in Chrome and Edge: https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZBBhU.jpg

In Windows Color Management, the ICC profile associated with my monitor device is set to my custom profile from the calibration (screenshot).

Adobe Photoshop RGB working space is set to sRGB (screenshot).

In Firefox, I have associated my ICC display profile and enabled full color management (screenshot).

I don't know which colors are supposed to be "correct", because even my desktop wallpaper is shown with those more saturated and darker colors, so I am confused.

If I switch back to sRGB profile in Color Management, the colors are consistent in all programs.

Answer 1

The files are exported in the sRGB profile, but that information is not embedded into the file. It will view correctly in applications that assume sRGB for png/untagged files. It will view differently in applications that do not.

If you tell photoshop to assign the correct (sRGB) color space to the file when opening the file it will appear correctly.

Answer 2

The settings you've shown look broadly correct. From the test, it's clear that IE 11 and "Photos" don't color manage, or don't do it correctly, at least with the current settings, so we can discount them. To explain the difference between the other four, we need to take into account the color management settings:

• Rendering intent. Your Photoshop is set to Relative Colorimetric, whereas Firefox is set to Perceptual.
• Black point compenstion. This shouldn't normally have effect for on-screen conversions, unless you have a special calibration target, but it may.
• Color management engine. Photoshop has its own rendering engine (ACE), while Firefox and Chrome presumably employ the operating system for conversion. Color translation is a fairly complicated task and can be done in more than one way, both in terms of implementation and the math behind it.

These things most visibly affect colors at the edges of the gamut and brightness, which is what we are observing.

Photoshop has easy access to all three settings, so you can try to change them and see what actually is the culprit.

A few side notes:

• For Firefox, you don't need to specify the path to your ICM profile (gfx.color_management.display_profile), as long as you set it in the OS (as you do). Next time you re-calibrate your monitor, you may forget to update it in Firefox.
• The color_management settings in Firefox are some of those that don't take immediate effect. You actually need to restart the browser, and not even just reload the page(s).
• Once set up correctly (which is not done by default for some reason), the current Firefox engine can be trusted in my experience, at least for general viewing. This is a good technical browser test. Photoshop too, but it does treat things slightly differently (perhaps better, but there is no "truth" to verify it).
• Do yourself a favor and tick all three "Profile mismatches" checkboxes in Photoshop. As you see by your very question, if you color manage, you need to know what's happening. One missing or wrong link can ruin everything.