Photo RGB to CMYK

It converts a photo from RGB, the color model of cameras and screens, to CMYK, the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks used in commercial printing. You can preview the four separations to see how much of each ink different parts of the image would use, and download a full-size CMYK TIFF. That is useful for understanding how a press will lay down your image and for printers or layout workflows that ask for a CMYK file.

Convert to CMYK only when preparing an image for commercial printing, such as offset or digital presses for magazines, brochures, and books, and only if the printer asks for CMYK files. Most photo labs printing on photographic paper want RGB files instead. Complete all your editing, retouching, and color grading in RGB first, and make the conversion the final step before sending files to the printer.

Drag your edited photo onto the drop area or click it to choose one. Click Generate CMYK Separations to see four previews showing the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black content, each with its own Download button for a JPG of that channel. Then click Download CMYK TIFF to save the actual CMYK file at full size, named after your photo with _cmyk added. Check the result on a calibrated monitor and ask your printer how they want files prepared.

RGB stands for red, green, and blue, an additive model used by screens and cameras: light is added, and all three at full strength make white. CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and key, meaning black, a subtractive model used in printing: inks absorb light, and adding ink makes things darker. Cyan, magenta, and yellow together give a muddy dark brown rather than true black, which is why a separate black ink is used.

Printing inks cannot reproduce every color a screen can show, especially vivid greens, bright blues, and neon pinks. This tool converts with the standard mathematical formula, which does not account for a specific press, paper, or ink, so it does not reshape colors to fit what can actually be printed. Viewers also differ in how they display CMYK files. To see realistic print color, soft proof in your editor with your printer's ICC profile.

The TIFF stores four channels, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, for every pixel, one byte each, with no compression at all. A 24 megapixel photo therefore produces a file of roughly 96 MB, while the original JPG may have been a few megabytes. The resolution and pixel dimensions are unchanged; the size comes from the extra channel and the absence of compression, which keeps the file simple for any TIFF reader.

No. The TIFF is made with the basic formula, black is calculated as 1 minus the brightest of red, green, and blue, and the other three inks are worked out from what remains, and no ICC profile is applied or embedded. Real press conversions use a profile for the specific printing condition, which controls black generation and total ink amount. Ask your printer which profile they convert with, and if they need one applied, convert in your editing software instead.

You can open any image your browser can display, such as JPEG, PNG, and WebP; most browsers cannot read TIFF, so convert TIFF sources to PNG first. The CMYK result is always an uncompressed 8-bit TIFF tagged at 300 dpi, at the full pixel size of your photo. Transparent areas are filled with white. The channel previews are limited to 1920 pixels and saved as RGB JPGs, so use the TIFF for print.

If you see Could not read this image, your browser was unable to decode the file. Raw camera files, HEIC outside Safari, and TIFF in most browsers are the usual causes; export the image from your editor as a JPEG or PNG and try again. Very large photos are processed in your browser's memory, so on a modest computer the TIFF may take a little while to appear. Nothing is sent anywhere, so the speed depends only on your device.

Output sharpening depends on the final size, paper, and printing process, so it belongs at the end of your workflow. With this tool, the conversion is the very last step, so resize your RGB file to the final print dimensions, apply output sharpening in your editor, check it at actual size, and then convert. If your printer handles the CMYK conversion with their own profile, send them the sharpened RGB file instead.