<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
      type="topic" style="task"
      id="color-canshareprofiles">

  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="color#calibration"/>
    <link type="seealso" xref="color-whatisprofile"/>
    <desc>Sharing color profiles is never a good idea as hardware changes over time.</desc>
    <revision version="13.10" date="2013-09-07" status="review"/>
    <credit type="author">
      <name>Richard Hughes</name>
      <email>richard@hughsie.com</email>
    </credit>
    <include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>
  </info>

  <title>Can I share my color profile?</title>

  <p>
    Color profiles that you have created yourself are specific to the
    hardware and lighting conditions that you calibrated for.
    A display that has been powered for a few hundred hours
    is going to have a very different color profile to a similar display
    with the next serial number that has been lit for a thousand hours.
  </p>
  <p>
    This means if you share your color profile with somebody, you might
    be getting them <em>closer</em> to calibration, but it's misleading
    at best to say that their display is calibrated.
  </p>
  <p>
    Similarly, unless everyone has recommended controlled lighting
    (no sunlight from windows, black walls, daylight bulbs etc.) in a
    room where viewing and editing images takes place, sharing a profile
    that you created in your own specific lighting conditions doesn't make
    a lot of sense.
  </p>

  <note style="warning">
    <p>
      You should carefully check the redistribution conditions for profiles
      downloaded from vendor websites or that were created on your behalf.
    </p>
  </note>

</page>