PDF color profile CMYK vs RGB: what is the difference?

2 min read·25 July 2026

CMYK for print, RGB for screen — but what does this mean for your PDF? Learn how to choose the right color profile for your project.

RGB vs. CMYK: the basics

RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is the color model for screens. Monitors, phones and tablets display colors as combinations of light. CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) is the color model for print. Printers mix ink in these four colors. A PDF made for a printer should ideally use CMYK colors; a PDF purely for screen (web, email) works fine with RGB.

Why color profile matters in PDF

If you send an RGB PDF to a printer, the printer automatically converts to CMYK — but this sometimes causes unexpected color shifts. Bright neon colors in RGB have no direct CMYK equivalent. Dark blue tones (Royal Blue in RGB) can look too purple after CMYK conversion. Using the correct profile in the source PDF preserves intended colors.

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View PDF info for color space

Use the Info tool on PDFrust to view properties of your PDF. Here you can see the color profile embedded in the document. If no profile is embedded, the printer assumes sRGB (standard web profile) — which can lead to color shifts in professional printing.

Practical advice per use case

Digital document (email, website, presentation): use RGB, create PDF with sRGB profile embedded. Commercial printing (flyers, books, posters): ask the printer for their preferred color profile (e.g. ISO Coated v2 for Europe). Digital printing (office printer, home printing): RGB is fine — office printers convert to CMYK themselves.

Color profile metadata

Professional PDFs for print contain an embedded ICC color profile as metadata. This profile tells the printer exactly how colors should be interpreted. Set this in your design program (Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Affinity Publisher) when exporting. PDFrust's Info tool shows which profile is present.