primarycolor

A primary color, or primary color set, is a color that serves as a basic building block for creating a broad range of other colors through mixing. The specific colors designated as primaries depend on the color model being used; there is no single universal set of primaries.

In additive color systems, such as those used by digital displays, the primaries are red, green, and blue. When combined at full intensity, these colors produce white; any other color is formed by varying the intensities of the primaries. This RGB color space underpins most screens and digital imaging workflows.

In subtractive color systems, used in printing and pigment mixing, the traditional primaries are cyan, magenta, and yellow. These primaries absorb portions of light, and their mixtures produce a broad range of colors. In practice, printers also use black (K) to achieve deeper tones and true black, forming the CMYK model.

Historically, art education often cited red, blue, and yellow as the primaries for painting. Those pigments do not create a perfect gamut, and the choice of primaries depends on medium and purpose. The concept thus varies with context, and different industries define different primary color sets to suit their color spaces.

In contemporary color science, primaries define the limits of a color space or gamut, and the term is used to describe the base colors of a given model. Understanding which primaries are used is important for color reproduction, calibration, and design consistency.