ArgyllCMS vs Little Argyll GUI

ArgyllCMS is a free, open-source ICC-compatible color management system for creating profiles and calibrating devices. Its command-line tools support scanners, cameras, film recorders, displays, and RGB, CMY and CMYK printers. It can create device-link profiles with options such as video calibration standards and 3D LUTs, and work with spectral samples, selectable illuminants and observer types, and paper fluorescent-whitener compensation. Color conversion tools handle 8-bit raster data and fully accurate 16-bit conversion. Documentation lists direct support for measurement instruments from JETI, Klein, X-Rite and Calibrite, DataColor and other manufacturers; some chart results can be converted into Argyll CGATS format. ArgyllCMS runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, but does not include a graphical interface. DisplayCAL, The Little Argyll GUI and CoCa are listed as front ends that use it. The package is licensed under AGPLv3; commercial licensing is available for code copyrighted by Graeme Gill through ArgyllPRO. On Linux, native display calibration and profiling under Wayland are not currently supported; the maker recommends X11 for color-managed displays.

Little Argyll GUI is an open-source graphical front end for the ArgyllCMS color-management system. Its controls help create and use ArgyllCMS commands for display and printer calibration and profiling, as well as camera and scanner profiling. Saved parameter sets support repeated work. The program can create daylight-series spectrum files with selectable ultraviolet filtering and custom patch sets for grays, near-grays, or tones such as sepia; printer patch sets can include those additions. Documentation links appear throughout the interface. Version 1.0.1 is a Python 3 script with a GTK 3 interface built using PyGObject, and updates Argyll 3.0.0; some parameters are absent in older Argyll versions. Linux, macOS, and Windows instructions are provided. Windows setup uses MSYS2, while macOS setup uses Homebrew. On the maker’s Windows 10 MinGW-w64 system, the background selector does not work. Use requires a color measurement device, such as an i1 Pro 3 or ColorChecker Studio. The listed price is $5 as a one-time purchase payment.