xr-color-management

name: xr-color-management description: Color spaces and gamuts in XR. sRGB vs DCI-P3 vs Rec.2020, OpenXR swapchain formats, and practical guidance for wide-gamut headsets. license: Apache-2.0 metadata: trit: 0 version: "1.0.0" bundle: reality-tech

XR Color Management

Use when the user asks about:

• "best color space" / DCI-P3 / Rec.2020 / sRGB
• why colors look washed out or oversaturated in-headset
• how to ship consistent color across headsets

Ground Truth

• Color gamut coverage (e.g., "96% DCI-P3") is display capability, not color accuracy.
• XR runtimes often compose in linear space; apps must be explicit about sRGB vs linear formats.

Practical Defaults

• Keep your pipeline sRGB-correct unless you know your runtime + device support wide-gamut end-to-end.
• Prefer a linear rendering workflow with sRGB textures flagged correctly.
• Validate with in-headset test patterns (ramps, skin tones, near-black, saturation sweeps).

OpenXR Notes

• Use API-specific sRGB swapchain formats when your render targets are sRGB encoded.
• If you submit linear data in 8-bit formats, banding and incorrect tones are common.

Vendor Extensions (When Available)

• Some runtimes expose explicit color space selection (e.g., Meta's XR_FB_color_space can request P3 / Rec.2020 / Rec.709).

Troubleshooting Checklist

• Confirm you’re not double-applying gamma (too dark/too contrasty) or skipping sRGB decode (too bright/washed).
• Check post-processing: tone mapping, color grading LUTs, exposure auto.
• If the runtime/toolkit offers post-processing (OpenXR Toolkit etc.), use it only to validate hypotheses, not as a permanent substitute for correct pipeline.

Interleave With

• varjo-xr-4 for XR-4-specific refresh-rate and Varjo Base settings
• steamvr-tracking when the XR setup uses Lighthouse base stations
• visual-design (from plurigrid/asi PR #61) for readable spatial UI color/contrast