Gamma correction

Gamma correction or gamma is a nonlinear operation used to encode and decode luminance or tristimulus values in video or systems. Gamma correction is, in the simplest cases, defined by the following power-law expression: where the non-negative real input value is raised to the power and multiplied by the constant A to get the output value . In the common case of A = 1, inputs and outputs are typically in the range 0–1. A gamma value is sometimes called an encoding gamma, and the process of encoding with this compressive power-law nonlinearity is called gamma compression; conversely a gamma value is called a decoding gamma, and the application of the expansive power-law nonlinearity is called gamma expansion. Gamma encoding of images is used to optimize the usage of bits when encoding an image, or bandwidth used to transport an image, by taking advantage of the non-linear manner in which humans perceive light and color. The human perception of brightness (lightness), under common illumination conditions (neither pitch black nor blindingly bright), follows an approximate power function (which has no relation to the gamma function), with greater sensitivity to relative differences between darker tones than between lighter tones, consistent with the Stevens power law for brightness perception. If images are not gamma-encoded, they allocate too many bits or too much bandwidth to highlights that humans cannot differentiate, and too few bits or too little bandwidth to shadow values that humans are sensitive to and would require more bits/bandwidth to maintain the same visual quality. Gamma encoding of floating-point images is not required (and may be counterproductive), because the floating-point format already provides a piecewise linear approximation of a logarithmic curve. Although gamma encoding was developed originally to compensate for the brightness characteristics of cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, that is not its main purpose or advantage in modern systems. In CRT displays, the light intensity varies nonlinearly with the electron-gun voltage.