# Calculating sRGB↔XYZ matrix

Michał ‘mina86’ Nazarewicz | 3 lutego 2019

I’ve recently found myself in need of an sRGB↔XYZ transformation matrix expressed to the maximum possible precision. Sources on the Internet typically limit the precision to just a few decimal places so I've decided to do the calculations by myself.

What we’re looking for is a 3-by-3 matrix $$M$$ which, when multiplied by red, green and blue coördinates of a colour, produces its XYZ coördinates. In other words, a change of basis matrix from a space whose basis vectors are sRGB’s primary colours: $$M = \begin{bmatrix} X_r & X_g & Y_b \\ Y_r & Y_g & Y_b \\ Z_r & Z_g & Z_b \end{bmatrix}$$

## Derivation

sRGB primary colours are defined in IEC 61966 standard (and also Rec. 709 document which is 170 francs cheaper) as a pair of x and y values (i.e. chromaticity coördinates). Converting them to XYZ space is simple: $$X = x Y / y$$ and $$Z = (1 - x - y) Y / y,$$ but leaves luminocity (the Y value) undefined.

$$\langle x, y\rangle$$$$\langle X, Y, Z\rangle$$
Red$$\langle 0.64, 0.33\rangle$$$$\langle 64 Y_r / 33, \; Y_r, \; Y_r / 11\rangle$$
Green$$\langle 0.30, 0.60\rangle$$$$\langle Y_g / 2, \; Y_g, \; Y_g / 6\rangle$$
Blue$$\langle 0.15, 0.06\rangle$$$$\langle 5 Y_b / 2, \; Y_b, \; 79 Y_b / 6\rangle$$
White (D65)$$\langle 0.31271, 0.32902\rangle$$$$\langle 31271 Y_w / 32902, \; Y_w, \; 35827 Y_w / 32902\rangle$$

That’s where reference white point comes into play. Its coördinates in linear RGB space, $$\langle 1, 1, 1 \rangle,$$ can be plugged into the change of basis formula to yield the following equation: $$\begin{bmatrix} X_w \\ Y_w \\ Z_w \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} X_r & X_g & X_b \\ Y_r & Y_g & Y_b \\ Z_r & Z_g & Z_b \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 1 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix}$$

For each colour $$c$$ (including white), $$X_c$$ and $$Z_c$$ can be expressed as a product of a known quantity and $$Y_c$$ (see table above). Furthermore, by definition of a white point, $$Y_w = 1.$$ At this point luminocities of the primary colours are the only unknowns. To isolate them, let’s define $$X'_c = X_c / Y_c$$ and $$Z'_c = Z_c / Y_c$$ and see where that leads us: \begin{align} \begin{bmatrix} X_w \\ Y_w \\ Z_w \end{bmatrix} &= \begin{bmatrix} X_r & X_g & X_b \\ Y_r & Y_g & Y_b \\ Z_r & Z_g & Z_b \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 1 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix} \\ &= \begin{bmatrix} X'_r Y_r & X'_g Y_g & X'_b Y_b \\ Y_r & Y_g & Y_b \\ Z'_r Y_r & Z'_g Y_g & Z'_b Y_b \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 1 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix} \\ &= \begin{bmatrix} X'_r & X'_g & X'_b \\ 1 & 1 & 1 \\ Z'_r & Z'_g & Z'_b \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} Y_r & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & Y_g & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & Y_b \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 1 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix} \\ &= \begin{bmatrix} X'_r & X'_g & X'_b \\ 1 & 1 & 1 \\ Z'_r & Z'_g & Z'_b \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} Y_r \\ Y_g \\ Y_b \end{bmatrix} \\ \\ \begin{bmatrix} Y_r \\ Y_g \\ Y_b \end{bmatrix} &= \begin{bmatrix} X'_r & X'_g & X'_b \\ 1 & 1 & 1 \\ Z'_r & Z'_g & Z'_b \end{bmatrix}^{-1} \begin{bmatrix} X_w \\ Y_w \\ Z_w \end{bmatrix} \end{align}

All quantities on the right-hand side are known therefore $$[Y_r Y_g Y_b]^T$$ can be computed. Let’s tidy things up into a final formula.

## Final formula

Given chromaticity of primary colours of an RGB space ($$\langle x_r, y_r \rangle,$$ $$\langle x_g, y_g \rangle$$ and $$\langle x_b, y_b \rangle$$) and its reference white point ($$\langle x_w, y_w \rangle$$), the matrix for converting linear RGB coördinates to XYZ is: $$M = \begin{bmatrix} X'_r Y_r & X'_g Y_g & X'_b Y_b \\ Y_r & Y_g & Y_b \\ Z'_r Y_r & Z'_g Y_g & Z'_b Y_b \end{bmatrix}$$

which can also be written as $$M = M' \times \mathrm{diag}(Y_r, Y_g, Y_b)$$ where: \begin{align} & M' = \begin{bmatrix} X'_r & X'_g & X'_b \\ 1 & 1 & 1 \\ Z'_r & Z'_g & Z'_b \end{bmatrix}\!\!, \\ \\ & \left. \begin{array}{l} X'_c = x_c / y_c \\ Z'_c = (1 - x_c - y_c) / y_c \end{array} \right\} \textrm{ for each colour } c, \\ \\ & \begin{bmatrix} Y_r \\ Y_g \\ Y_b \end{bmatrix} = M'^{-1} \begin{bmatrix} X_w \\ Y_w \\ Z_w \end{bmatrix} \textrm{ and} \\ \\ & \begin{bmatrix} X_w \\ Y_w \\ Z_w \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} x_w / y_w \\ 1 \\ (1 - x_w - y_w) / y_w \end{bmatrix}\!\!. \end{align}

Matrix converting coördinates in the opposite direction is the inverse of $$M,$$ i.e. $$M^{-1}$$.

## Implementation

Having theoretical part covered, it’s time to put the equations into practice, which brings up a question of language to use. With unlimited-precision integers and rational numbers arithmetic already implementation, Python is particularly good choice as it will allow all calculations to be done without rounding. Implementation begins with an overview of the algorithm:

Chromaticity = collections.namedtuple('Chromaticity', 'x y')

def calculate_rgb_matrix(primaries, white):
M_prime = (tuple(c.x / c.y             for c in primaries),
tuple(1                     for _ in primaries),
tuple((1 - c.x - c.y) / c.y for c in primaries))
W = (white.x / white.y, 1, (1 - white.x - white.y) / white.y)
Y = mul_matrix_by_column(inverse_3x3_matrix(M_prime), W)
return mul_matrix_by_diag(M_prime, Y)

The function first constructs $$M'$$ matrix and $$W = [X_w Y_w Z_w]^T$$ column which are used to calculate $$[Y_r Y_g Y_b]^T$$ using $$M'^{-1} W$$ formula. With that computed, the function returns $$M' \times \mathrm{diag}(Y_r, Y_g, Y_b)$$ which is the transform matrix.

All operations on matrices are delegated to separate functions. Since the matrices the code deals with are small there is no need to optimise any of the algorithms and instead the most straightforward matrix multiplication algorithms are chosen:

def mul_matrix_by_column(matrix, column):
return tuple(
sum(row[i] * column[i] for i in range(len(row)))
for row in matrix)

def mul_matrix_by_diag(matrix, column):
return tuple(
tuple(row[c] * column[c] for c in range(len(column)))
for row in matrix)

Only the function inverting a 3-by-3 matrix is somewhat more complex:

def inverse_3x3_matrix(matrix):
def cofactor(row, col):
minor = [matrix[r][c]
for r in (0, 1, 2) if r != row
for c in (0, 1, 2) if c != col]
a, b, c, d = minor
det_minor = a * d - b * c
return det_minor if (row ^ col) & 1 == 0 else -det_minor

comatrix = tuple(
tuple(cofactor(row, col) for col in (0, 1, 2))
for row in (0, 1, 2))
det = sum(matrix[0][col] * comatrix[0][col] for col in (0, 1, 2))
return tuple(
tuple(comatrix[col][row] / det for col in (0, 1, 2))
for row in (0, 1, 2))

It first constructs matrix of cofactors of the input (i.e. comatrix). Because function’s argument is always a 3-by-3 matrix, each minor’s determinant can be trivially calculated using $$\bigl|\begin{smallmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{smallmatrix}\bigr| = a d - b c$$ formula. Once the comatrix is constructed, calculating determinant of the input matrix and its inverse becomes just a matter of executing a few loops.

The above code works for any RGB system. To get result for sRGB its sRGB’s primaries and white point chromaticities need to me passed:

def calculate_srgb_matrix():
primaries = (Chromaticity(fractions.Fraction(64, 100),
fractions.Fraction(33, 100)),
Chromaticity(fractions.Fraction(30, 100),
fractions.Fraction(60, 100)),
Chromaticity(fractions.Fraction(15, 100),
fractions.Fraction( 6, 100)))
white = Chromaticity(fractions.Fraction(31271, 100000),
fractions.Fraction(32902, 100000))
return calculate_rgb_matrix(primaries, white)

Full implementation with other bells and whistles can be found inside of ansi_colours repository.

Kategorie:

Tagi:

• colorimetry
• rgb
• srgb