colorvalue

Colorvalue, commonly referred to as value in color theory, denotes the lightness or brightness of a color independent of its hue. It is a component used in several color models to describe how light or dark a color appears, and it is distinct from chroma (colorfulness) and hue (the type of color).

In digital color models, the term value appears prominently in HSV (also called HSB). In HSV, value represents the brightness level of a color and is defined as the maximum of the red, green, and blue components. On a normalized scale, V ranges from 0 (black) to 1 (the brightest version of the color). On common 8-bit RGB scales, V is the maximum of the R, G, and B channels (0 to 255). Saturation in HSV indicates how pure the color is relative to its brightness.

Another related model is HSL, where lightness substitutes for value. In HSL, lightness L is defined as the average of the maximum and minimum RGB values: L = (max(R, G, B) + min(R, G, B)) / 2. Like V, L ranges from 0 (black) to 1 (white) on a normalized scale, with saturation behaving differently than in HSV.

Value can also be used more generally to describe luminance or brightness in grayscale representations or in other color systems like Y'CbCr, where certain channels convey perceived brightness.

Note that value is model-dependent and does not always correspond precisely to subjective brightness across hues. It remains a practical and widely used dimension for adjusting and comparing lightness in color selection and digital imaging.