How to Fix Image Color and Saturation Loss in WordPress

Recently, one of our readers asked us if there is a way to prevent image color and saturation loss in WordPress. We always include visual media in our blog posts, so we have a lot of experience managing WordPress images, and we’ve faced this issue ourselves.

It can be super frustrating when a picture that looked perfect before appears to be faded or its quality is compromised after you upload it to WordPress.

Unfortunately, this is a common problem that many WordPress users run into when uploading images to the media library. As a result, the pictures sometimes look dull and blurry on your website.

The good news is we’ve learned how to prevent this from happening, and we’re happy to tell you how. You just need to run a quick color conversion using a photo editing tool.

Keep reading to learn, step by step, how to fix image color and saturation loss in WordPress.

Here is a quick overview of the topics we will cover in this post:

Why Do Some Images Lose Color and Saturation in WordPress?

One of the main reasons for the loss of color and saturation in images is color space. Color space is just a range of colors that are available to your camera or any other image-taking device.

Different forms of RGB (Red, Green, Blue) color space are used across the internet. The two most common forms are Adobe RGB and sRGB.

Many professional photographers capture photographs using Adobe’s RGB color space, which has more colors and offers much better results.

However, most content management systems (CMS), like WordPress, use sRGB color space. When you upload your image, WordPress creates several image sizes and converts them into sRGB. These images have fewer colors than Adobe’s RGB.

Images captured with Adobe RGB color space are more vibrant and accurately display colors in high tones. When converted by WordPress, those vibrant colors are replaced with slightly muted tones.

For example, here’s a comparison of an image with different image qualities. The picture on the left is taken using the Adobe RGB color space. However, when uploaded to WordPress, the image loses its vibrancy and looks dull.

WordPress also compresses the resized images, which may contribute to slight quality loss. For more details, read our guide on how to increase or decrease WordPress JPEG image compression.

Having said that, let’s see how we can prevent image color and saturation loss in WordPress.

How to Fix Color and Saturation Loss for Images in WordPress Using Photoshop

The easiest way to fix this issue is by converting your images to sRGB color space before uploading them to WordPress. This can be easily done using an image editing tool like Adobe Photoshop.

Method 1: Convert Images to sRGB

First, you will need to open your image in Adobe Photoshop.

From here, simply head to File » Export » Save for Web (Legacy) from the menu at the top.

This will bring up the Save for Web dialog box, where you can check the ‘Convert to sRGB’ box and save it.

You can also embed a color profile with your image. However, it will not have much effect on browsers reading an image.

Method 2: Edit Color Settings in Photoshop

On the other hand, you can use this method if you are not satisfied with the result of the first method.

In Adobe Photoshop, go to Edit » Color Settings. This will bring up the color settings dialog box.

You need to select ‘North America Web/Internet’ from the settings dropdown menu.

Next, under the Color Management Policies section, select the RGB settings to Convert to Working RGB. Then, click the ‘OK’ button to save your settings.

Now, you need to open the original photograph or image that you wanted to upload.

If the working space profile mismatches, then Photoshop will show a warning and ask you what to do.

You should select ‘Convert document’s color to working space’ and then click ‘OK’. Your photo’s color profile is now more accurately converted. You can now save the image to preserve your changes.

Repeat the process for all the images that you want to upload. Now, you can safely upload these converted images without any color or saturation loss in WordPress.

How to Fix Color and Saturation Loss in WordPress With GIMP

GIMP is a powerful free alternative to Adobe Photoshop. You can use it to convert the color space for your WordPress uploads.

GIMP basically detects each image you try to open to see if it has a color profile embedded. If your image is in Adobe RGB color space, then GIMP will automatically show you a dialog box to convert it.

Sometimes an image may not have an embedded color profile, or GIMP may fail to read it correctly. In that case, you will need to manually change the color space.

First, you need to know what color space your photograph may be using. Usually, it is Adobe RGB, but it could be different. If you are unsure, then you can check your camera device to figure this out.

Do note that GIMP does not have an Adobe RGB profile built-in. You will need to download Adobe RGB ICC Profile to your computer.

Simply open the Adobe Digital Imaging Solutions website and scroll down to the bottom. Go ahead and select your operating system, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

You will be able to download the Adobe RGB ICC profiles in a zip file. Simply extract the zip file, and inside it, you will notice the AdobeRGB1998.icc file.

Once you have downloaded the ICC profile, simply open your image with GIMP. From here, head to Image » Mode and then ensure that it’s set to RGB.

Once you have applied the color profile, GIMP can now safely convert it to sRGB without losing colors.

Simply go to Image » Color Management and then select the ‘Convert to Color Profile’ option.

A new dialogue box will now open.

Go ahead and set the ‘Convert to’ option as ‘Built-in RGB’ and click the ‘Convert’ button.

GIMP will now convert the color profile to sRGB, and you can save your image. Simply repeat the process for other images you want to upload to WordPress.

Additional Resources for Image Optimization

Here are some guides you can go through to ensure your images are properly optimized:

• How to Properly Add Images in WordPress (Step by Step)
• WebP vs. PNG vs. JPEG: The Best Image Format for WordPress
• Beginner’s Guide to Image SEO – Optimize Images for Search Engines
• How to Bulk Edit Featured Images in WordPress
• How to Choose the Best Web Design Software (Compared)
• Beginner’s Guide to WordPress Image Sizes (+ Best Practices)
• Best WordPress Image Compression Plugins Compared

We hope this article helped you fix image color and saturation loss in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on ways to prevent image theft in WordPress and how to clean up your WordPress media library.

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