videorange

Videorange is a term used in digital imaging and video processing to describe a perceptual color category and a corresponding extension of color spaces intended to improve rendering of hues in the red–orange range. The concept aims to preserve detail, saturation, and skin tones in scenes where warm colors dominate, by allocating more perceptual steps to this part of the spectrum within existing pipelines such as YCbCr, ICtCp, or perceptual gamut mapping stages.

The name combines “video” and “orange” and has appeared in technical discussions and exploratory papers since the 2010s. It is not a formal standard and has no single governing specification. In practice, videorange is described as a targeted adjustment or subspace within a color model that increases color resolution for orange hues, potentially through enhanced quantization, perceptual quantizers, or adaptive gamut mapping.

Applications and usage are primarily within research and development contexts. The idea is used to influence color grading, HDR pipelines, display calibration, and some experimental codecs to reduce posterization and improve the natural appearance of skin tones and warm scenes. The approach is often implemented as a set of optional processing steps or as a parameterized adjustment within an existing color-management workflow.

Limitations include device dependence and varying perceptual outcomes across displays. Because videorange relies on specific display gamuts and viewer perception, results can differ, and there is no universal agreement on its deployment. It remains a topic of interest in discussions of perceptual color rendering and color-management research. See also color space, gamut mapping, perceptual quantization, and HDR.