gamut

Gamut is a term used to describe the complete range or scope of a particular property. In technical contexts it often refers to the set of possible values that a system can produce or represent, with notable uses in color science and music.

In color theory, a color gamut is the subset of colors that a device or color space can reproduce. The gamut is determined by the device’s primaries or the color space’s defining coordinates. Common color spaces have widely used gamuts, such as sRGB, Adobe RGB, and ProPhoto RGB. When converting colors between spaces, the process of gamut mapping decides how colors that fall outside a target gamut are handled, typically through clipping, compression, or perceptual rendering. Visualizing color gamuts often involves three-dimensional color models like CIELAB or CIELUV, where the gamut boundary appears as a closed region.

In music, the gamut refers to the range of pitches available to a voice or instrument. It is the span from the lowest to the highest note that can be produced, and it influences instrument design, vocal technique, and repertoire. Human vocal ranges vary, commonly covering about two to four octaves, while instruments such as the piano encompass wider spans. In broader musical theory, gamut also describes the collection of pitches that define a scale or key within a tuning system.