When you see the specification of projectors, you may see DCI-P3, Rec. 709 or Rec. 2020. Do you know the difference?

All the three terms are indicator of color gamut. Color gamut is the range of colors within the visible color space. The wider the range of colors, the richer the images you a projector can create and vice versa.

DCI-P3 vs Rec. 709 vs Rec. 2020

The three terms are the main color gamut standards widely used in projector market.

DCI-P3 is a common standard for digital movie projection from the American film industry. It is defined by the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) organization in 2010, which is utilized by some tech giants such as Apple, Samsung, and Google.

Rec. 709, also known as BT.709, is a specification standard released by the ITU-R for image encoding and signal characteristics of HD television.

Rec.2020 is an update based on Rec.709 specification standards. It refers to various specifications covering aspects of video broadcasts, including a corresponding color gamut, which is geared for UHD (4K and 8K) televisions.

Credit: BenQ

We can have a clear knowledge of their color gamut performance as shown in the picture above.

Rec.2020 covers the largest area of the visible color space, followed by the DCI-P3 and then the Rec.709 color gamut.

However, Rec.709 is the mainstream solution for projectors in consideration of affordability or price.