: Can a GIF have a CMYK profile? While working on an InDesign script that checks the links used in a file I decided to check what color profile has been used on images so I can output it

@Ravi4787994

There is no mention of CMYK in the GIF specification, and it only supports color triplets. Take a peek at the syntax for color tables given by the spec:

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Field Name Type
+===============+
0 | | Red 0 Byte
+- -+
1 | | Green 0 Byte
+- -+
2 | | Blue 0 Byte
+- -+
3 | | Red 1 Byte
+- -+
| | Green 1 Byte
+- -+
up | |
+- . . . . -+ ...
to | |
+- -+
| | Green 255 Byte
+- -+
767 | | Blue 255 Byte
+===============+


Since CMYK values would require color quadruplets, any parser that follows the spec wouldn't know what to do with a "CMYK GIF" even if you shoehorned the values in.

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@Samaraweera207

The short answer is no, a GIF can't support a CMYK profile.

A CMYK profile is a series off curves that map the percentage value of each separation to a target. GIF images are saved as INDEXED COLOUR, which then references an RGB value for each colour. While CMYK values could be derived from the RGB values (the RGB gamut is wider than the CMYK gamut so some colours would have to be approximated), there would not be a continuous, complete 'curve' of colour values so the profile would not have the necessary freedom to adjust.

If you are supplied with GIFs or RGB files or anything other than CMYK for print work then the best route is to convert them to CMYK and issue a proof for approval. Sometimes all will be well, sometimes it will be a disaster.

Also, I take issue with the suggestion that the 'correct' pronunciation is with a soft g (as in sounds like JIF), the G in GIF stands for Graphic, with a hard G, so GIF should be pronounced with a G that sounds like the G in Graphic. I don't care what anybody (including the inventors of the format) say.

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