What every coder should know about gamma

▤ Summary

This article explains gamma correction and why image data must often be converted between linear and sRGB space. It shows how human brightness perception differs from physical light emission and why 8-bit image storage relies on gamma encoding. It also demonstrates the practical impact of gamma mistakes on gradients, blending, resizing, antialiasing, and physically based rendering. The piece argues that many graphics tools still handle gamma incorrectly and that developers should use linear workflows where appropriate. It ends by recommending sRGB as the default for most consumer imaging work and linear space for image processing and rendering.

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