Argyll File Formats
Author: Graeme Gill

# File formats that Argyll uses

Argyll uses a number of file formats for its operation, some that are external standards, and some that are unique to Argyll.
.ti1
.ti2
.ti3
.cal
.cht
.gam
.sp
.cmf
CGATS
ICC
MPP
TIFF
VRML
X3D
X3DOM

## .ti1

Target Information 1 data. This is an ASCII text, CGATS, Argyll specific format, used to hold device value ready for creating a profiling test chart, as well as the estimated CIE color values for each value, used in laying out the test chart and reading validation purposes. Additional information on possible spacer and marking values that may be needed in creating a rendered test chart is also included. This file is typically created using the targen tool.

## .ti2

Target Information 2 data. This is an ASCII text, CGATS, Argyll specific format, used to hold device value that have been laid out in a test chart, together with each test patches location, and estimated CIE color values for each value used for reading validation purposes. This file is typically created using the printtarg or filmtarg tools.

## .ti3

Target Information 3 data. This is an ASCII text, CGATS, Argyll specific format, used to hold device value and CIE/Spectral value pairs, the raw information needed to create device profiles. This file is typically created using the chartread, dispread, filmread, scanin, fakeread or one of the conversion tools such as cb2ti3, kodak2ti3, txt2ti3. See TI3 file format for more detail.

## .cal

Device calibration information. This is ASCII text, CGATS, Argyll specific format, used to hold a description of device setup information that brings it to a desired calibration state. Created by dispcal, printcal, synthcal. See CAL file format for more detail.

## .cht

Test chart recognition file. This is ASCII text Argyll specific format, used to hold a description of a test chart, so that a raster image of the chart can be turned into device test values by the scanin tool. .cht files are created manually (usually in combination with scanin creating a boilerplate file containing the recognition parameters, but not the patch location information), or by the printtarg tool, when creating a test print chart that will be scanned in, rather than read by an instrument. See CHT file format for more detail.

## .gam

Gamut surface description. This is an ASCII text, CGATS, Argyll specific format, used to hold a 3 Dimensional surface description of a color gamut. Typical this is created using the iccgamut, tiffgamut, or mpplu tools. The resulting file is typically viewed using the viewgam tool to convert one or more gamuts into a VRML file, or as input to collink, to describe a source colorspace gamut.

## .sp

Spectral illuminant description. This is an ASCII text, CGATS, Argyll specific format, used to hold one or more spectral descriptions of an illuminant or color. Typically it is used to record a custom illuminant, for use in computing Fluorescent Whitening Agent compensation for reflective samples, as well as computing CIE tristimulus values from spectral samples.

## .cmf

Color Matching Functions. This is an ASCII text, CGATS, Argyll specific format, used to hold three spectral response curves that define a tristimulus observer. The format is the same as a .sp file.

## .ccmx

Colorimeter Correction Matrix. This is an ASCII text, CGATS, Argyll specific format, used to hold a 3x3 correction matrix. The matrix is for a specific display and Colorimeter, and is used to transform the instruments XYZ values to make them better match a reference spectrometers measurements for that display. The file contains a description of the display, Colorimeter and reference Spectrometer. See ccxxmake for more information.

## .ccss

Colorimeter Calibration Spectral Set. This is an ASCII text, CGATS, Argyll specific format, used to hold a set of display spectral samples. For Colorimeters that have known sensor spectral sensitivity information (such as the i1d3 and Spyder4 & Spyder5), this allows a calibration to be created that is tuned for a particular display. The file contains a description of the display, the display technology type, the type of spectrometer used for taking the readings. See oeminst and ccxxmake for more information. The format is similar to a .sp file.

### CGATS

CGATS.5 Data Exchange Format, from the Annex J, of the ANSI CGATS.5-1993 standard.
This is a general purpose ASCII file format suitable for representing color data, and widely used to store color test values. Argyll uses this as a base, human readable format, for a variety of purposes.

### ICC

ICC files are files that conform to the International Color Consortium, File Format for Color profiles. The ICC Profile Format attempts to provide a cross platform device profile format, that can be used to translate color data created on one device into another device's native color space. For a fuller explanation of what the ICC Profile Format is all about, please refer to http://www.color.org, and the profile specification. Argyll currently supports profiles that meet the V3.4 specification. These files are commonly named with a .icm extension on the Windows platform, .pr or .icc on the Macintosh and other platforms. As well as device profiles, the ICC format can also store device link profiles, abstract profiles and named color profiles. This file is typically created using the colprof or collink tools. A device link profile is also a way of specifying a custom ink separation from (say) CMYK to the 6 or more colorants used by inkjet printers.

### MPP

Model based device profile format. This is an ASCII text, CGATS, Argyll specific format, used to hold the parameters to a general model based device profile. This is a less precise and general format than and ICC profile, but is a compact way of representing a devices response when it has a large number of color channels, or when very few measured data points are available for its construction. This file is typically created using the mppprof tool.

### TIFF

Tag Image File Format (TIFF), a widely used format within the graphic arts industries for storing image data. It handles various forms of compression, and various colorspaces, including RGB, CMYK and multi-channel files. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIFF/. Argyll makes use of this as a default raster format.

### JPEG

Joint Photographic Experts Group, (JPEG), a widely used format within the graphic arts and photographic industries for storing image data. It handles various forms of compression, and various colorspaces, including RGB and CMYK. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG/. Argyll makes use of this as an alternate raster format for some tools.

### VRML

Virtual Reality Modeling Language file. This is a portable way of encoding 3 Dimensional objects (such as gamut surfaces). Typically these can be viewed with a suitable standalone VRML viewer, or a plug in for a web browser. VRML97 is International Standard ISO/IEC 14772-1:1997. See http://www.vrml.org/ for more information. See 3D Viewing Format for switching to VRML output format.

### X3D

X3D is a royalty-free ISO standard XML-based file format for representing 3D computer graphics. It is successor to the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). See http://www.web3d.org/ for more information. See 3D Viewing Format for switching X3D output format.

### X3DOM

X3DOM is an open-source framework and runtime for 3D graphics on the Web. It can be freely used for non-commercial and commercial purposes, and is dual-licensed under MIT and GPL license. The javascript runtime displays embeded X3D files in browsers that support WebGL.
See http://www.x3dom.org/ for more information about this format.
To check if your browser supports X3DOM, try this test page.
For more information about ArgyllCMS use of it, see 3D Viewing Format.