What does chroma mean?
"Chroma" is a noun denoting the purity or intensity of a color — the quality that makes a scarlet feel electric and a brick tone feel subdued, independent of how light or dark the color is. In colorimetry, chroma describes how far a color sits from a neutral gray of equal brightness, making it one of the core dimensions alongside hue (the color's identity) and value or lightness. The word also plays an important technical role in digital media: video signals separate chroma (color information) from luminance (brightness), a division exploited in chroma subsampling for efficient compression and in the famous "chroma key," the green-screen technique behind weather broadcasts and film effects. Borrowed from Greek via scientific Latin, chroma remains chiefly a term of art, design, and engineering rather than casual conversation, prized for its precision when describing exactly how vivid a color truly is.
The purity or intensity of a color; the degree to which it differs from a neutral gray of the same lightness.
"Artists choose high-chroma pigments when they want passages of pure, glowing color."
In formal colorimetry (e.g., Munsell, CIE systems), chroma is a precisely defined dimension distinct from saturation and lightness.
In video and digital imaging, the portion of a signal carrying color information, as distinguished from luminance; used especially in 'chroma key' compositing.
"The broadcaster replaced the green backdrop using the footage's chroma data."
Almost always encountered in compounds such as 'chroma key,' 'chroma subsampling,' or 'chroma channel.'
The plural is grammatically standard but rarely needed; it appears mostly in technical discussions comparing the chromas of different colors.
"The two pigments differ markedly in their chromas despite sharing the same hue."
When weather forecasters stand in front of a map on TV, they're actually standing in front of a green wall that the 'chroma key' replaces with graphics in real time.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of chroma
Chroma comes from the ancient Greek word khrōma (χρῶμα), meaning "color" or "pigment of the skin." It entered English through scientific Latin usage, becoming established in scholarly and later technical writing on color during the nineteenth century as color science matured. It shares this Greek root with many familiar derivatives, including chromatic, monochrome, polychrome, and chromosome — the latter named because these structures stain readily under certain dyes.
How chroma is actually used
"Chroma" is primarily a technical term, found in color theory, art materials, photography, and broadcast engineering; it is uncommon in everyday speech, where speakers more often say "saturation" or "vividness." In colorimetry it has a precise meaning within systems such as Munsell and CIE, distinct from related but non-identical terms like "saturation." The plural "chromas" is rare but attested.
Easily confused with chroma
Chrome refers to chromium or a shiny metallic finish (or Google's browser), while chroma denotes the intensity or purity of a color.
Hue is the identity of a color (red, blue, green), whereas chroma measures how vivid or saturated that color is regardless of which hue it is.