Formula to determine brightness of RGB color

Question

I\'m looking for some kind of formula or algorithm to determine the brightness of a color given the RGB values. I know it can\'t be as simple as adding the RGB values toget

Answer 1

Interestingly, this formulation for RGB=>HSV just uses v=MAX3(r,g,b). In other words, you can use the maximum of (r,g,b) as the V in HSV.

I checked and on page 575 of Hearn & Baker this is how they compute "Value" as well.

Answer 2

This link explains everything in depth, including why those multiplier constants exist before the R, G and B values.

Edit: It has an explanation to one of the answers here too (0.299*R + 0.587*G + 0.114*B)

Answer 3

I was solving a similar task today in javascript. I've settled on this getPerceivedLightness(rgb) function for a HEX RGB color. It deals with Helmholtz-Kohlrausch effect via Fairchild and Perrotta formula for luminance correction.

/**
 * Converts RGB color to CIE 1931 XYZ color space.
 * https://www.image-engineering.de/library/technotes/958-how-to-convert-between-srgb-and-ciexyz
 * @param  {string} hex
 * @return {number[]}
 */
export function rgbToXyz(hex) {
    const [r, g, b] = hexToRgb(hex).map(_ => _ / 255).map(sRGBtoLinearRGB)
    const X =  0.4124 * r + 0.3576 * g + 0.1805 * b
    const Y =  0.2126 * r + 0.7152 * g + 0.0722 * b
    const Z =  0.0193 * r + 0.1192 * g + 0.9505 * b
    // For some reason, X, Y and Z are multiplied by 100.
    return [X, Y, Z].map(_ => _ * 100)
}

/**
 * Undoes gamma-correction from an RGB-encoded color.
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRGB#Specification_of_the_transformation
 * https://stackoverflow.com/questions/596216/formula-to-determine-brightness-of-rgb-color
 * @param  {number}
 * @return {number}
 */
function sRGBtoLinearRGB(color) {
    // Send this function a decimal sRGB gamma encoded color value
    // between 0.0 and 1.0, and it returns a linearized value.
    if (color <= 0.04045) {
        return color / 12.92
    } else {
        return Math.pow((color + 0.055) / 1.055, 2.4)
    }
}

/**
 * Converts hex color to RGB.
 * https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5623838/rgb-to-hex-and-hex-to-rgb
 * @param  {string} hex
 * @return {number[]} [rgb]
 */
function hexToRgb(hex) {
    const match = /^#?([a-f\d]{2})([a-f\d]{2})([a-f\d]{2})$/i.exec(hex)
    if (match) {
        match.shift()
        return match.map(_ => parseInt(_, 16))
    }
}

/**
 * Converts CIE 1931 XYZ colors to CIE L*a*b*.
 * The conversion formula comes from <http://www.easyrgb.com/en/math.php>.
 * https://github.com/cangoektas/xyz-to-lab/blob/master/src/index.js
 * @param   {number[]} color The CIE 1931 XYZ color to convert which refers to
 *                           the D65/2° standard illuminant.
 * @returns {number[]}       The color in the CIE L*a*b* color space.
 */
// X, Y, Z of a "D65" light source.
// "D65" is a standard 6500K Daylight light source.
// https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminant_D65
const D65 = [95.047, 100, 108.883]
export function xyzToLab([x, y, z]) {
  [x, y, z] = [x, y, z].map((v, i) => {
    v = v / D65[i]
    return v > 0.008856 ? Math.pow(v, 1 / 3) : v * 7.787 + 16 / 116
  })
  const l = 116 * y - 16
  const a = 500 * (x - y)
  const b = 200 * (y - z)
  return [l, a, b]
}

/**
 * Converts Lab color space to Luminance-Chroma-Hue color space.
 * http://www.brucelindbloom.com/index.html?Eqn_Lab_to_LCH.html
 * @param  {number[]}
 * @return {number[]}
 */
export function labToLch([l, a, b]) {
    const c = Math.sqrt(a * a + b * b)
    const h = abToHue(a, b)
    return [l, c, h]
}

/**
 * Converts a and b of Lab color space to Hue of LCH color space.
 * https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53733379/conversion-of-cielab-to-cielchab-not-yielding-correct-result
 * @param  {number} a
 * @param  {number} b
 * @return {number}
 */
function abToHue(a, b) {
    if (a >= 0 && b === 0) {
        return 0
    }
    if (a < 0 && b === 0) {
        return 180
    }
    if (a === 0 && b > 0) {
        return 90
    }
    if (a === 0 && b < 0) {
        return 270
    }
    let xBias
    if (a > 0 && b > 0) {
        xBias = 0
    } else if (a < 0) {
        xBias = 180
    } else if (a > 0 && b < 0) {
        xBias = 360
    }
    return radiansToDegrees(Math.atan(b / a)) + xBias
}

function radiansToDegrees(radians) {
    return radians * (180 / Math.PI)
}

function degreesToRadians(degrees) {
    return degrees * Math.PI / 180
}

/**
 * Saturated colors appear brighter to human eye.
 * That's called Helmholtz-Kohlrausch effect.
 * Fairchild and Pirrotta came up with a formula to
 * calculate a correction for that effect.
 * "Color Quality of Semiconductor and Conventional Light Sources":
 * https://books.google.ru/books?id=ptDJDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=fairchild+pirrotta+correction&source=bl&ots=7gXR2MGJs7&sig=ACfU3U3uIHo0ZUdZB_Cz9F9NldKzBix0oQ&hl=ru&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi47LGivOvmAhUHEpoKHU_ICkIQ6AEwAXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=fairchild%20pirrotta%20correction&f=false
 * @return {number}
 */
function getLightnessUsingFairchildPirrottaCorrection([l, c, h]) {
    const l_ = 2.5 - 0.025 * l
    const g = 0.116 * Math.abs(Math.sin(degreesToRadians((h - 90) / 2))) + 0.085
    return l + l_ * g * c
}

export function getPerceivedLightness(hex) {
    return getLightnessUsingFairchildPirrottaCorrection(labToLch(xyzToLab(rgbToXyz(hex))))
}

Answer 4

The method could vary depending on your needs. Here are 3 ways to calculate Luminance:

• Luminance (standard for certain colour spaces): (0.2126*R + 0.7152*G + 0.0722*B) source

• Luminance (perceived option 1): (0.299*R + 0.587*G + 0.114*B) source

• Luminance (perceived option 2, slower to calculate): sqrt( 0.241*R^2 + 0.691*G^2 + 0.068*B^2 ) → sqrt( 0.299*R^2 + 0.587*G^2 + 0.114*B^2 ) (thanks to @MatthewHerbst) source

^{_{[Edit: added examples using named css colors sorted with each method.]}}

Answer 5

I think what you are looking for is the RGB -> Luma conversion formula.

Photometric/digital ITU BT.709:

Y = 0.2126 R + 0.7152 G + 0.0722 B

Digital ITU BT.601 (gives more weight to the R and B components):

Y = 0.299 R + 0.587 G + 0.114 B

If you are willing to trade accuracy for perfomance, there are two approximation formulas for this one:

Y = 0.33 R + 0.5 G + 0.16 B

Y = 0.375 R + 0.5 G + 0.125 B

These can be calculated quickly as

Y = (R+R+B+G+G+G)/6

Y = (R+R+R+B+G+G+G+G)>>3

Answer 6

I found this code (written in C#) that does an excellent job of calculating the "brightness" of a color. In this scenario, the code is trying to determine whether to put white or black text over the color.