How to Change Rendering Intent in GIMP

This guide explains how to adjust color rendering intent options—such as Perceptual, Relative Colorimetric, Saturation, and Absolute Colorimetric—in GIMP. You will learn where to find these settings for global display preferences, soft-proofing, and active image color profile conversions, as well as the practical differences between Perceptual and Relative Colorimetric intents.

Changing Default Rendering Intent in Preferences

To set the default rendering intent for your workspace, display, and soft-proofing previews across all projects:

  1. Open GIMP and navigate to Edit > Preferences (on macOS, go to GIMP > Preferences).
  2. In the left-hand sidebar, click on Color Management.
  3. Under the Display or Soft-proofing sections, locate the Rendering intent dropdown menus.
  4. Select your preferred intent: Perceptual, Relative colorimetric, Saturation, or Absolute colorimetric.
  5. (Optional) Toggle the Use black point compensation checkbox depending on your workflow requirements.
  6. Click OK to save and apply your settings.

Adjusting Rendering Intent During Profile Conversion

If you want to convert the color profile of an active image and specify the rendering intent for that specific export or conversion:

  1. Open your image in GIMP.
  2. Go to Image > Color Management > Convert to Color Profile....
  3. In the dialog box, select your target Convert to profile.
  4. Expand the Advanced Options / Rendering Intent dropdown menu.
  5. Choose between Perceptual, Relative Colorimetric, Saturation, or Absolute Colorimetric.
  6. Set your preference for Black Point Compensation.
  7. Click Convert to finalize the change.

Perceptual vs. Relative Colorimetric

  • Perceptual: Compresses the entire color gamut of the original image so that all colors fit inside the new color space. While individual color values change, the visual relationship between colors is preserved. This is best for photographs with out-of-gamut colors.
  • Relative Colorimetric: Keeps all in-gamut colors identical to the original and only adjusts colors that fall outside the target gamut by mapping them to the closest reproducible hue. This is best for maintaining exact color accuracy, such as for vector graphics, logos, and skin tones within gamut.