Firefox Images other than sRGB displaying wrong

I have used Firefox for years and have not had any problem with it displaying images until just recently. I guess a recent update has changed something in how it renders some images. Below are two images where I had this problem. My EXIF viewer says they are "Uncalibrated (65535)," whatever that means. But anyway, making a change in about:config solves the problem. I changed the line gfx.color_management.e​nablev4 to "false" and it corrected the problem. If that is what needs to be done to correct the problem, I plan to just leave it on "false" but this solution could cause other images on the net to not display properly, so I hope that this setting change is not the permanent solution.

Before I disabled v4 both of the images below were dark. The background on the Tit image was dark maroon/red and the dark enough that you could not see the detail on the bird. The cat image was so dark, I knew something was wrong when itsallart mentioned the different eye colors. The way that Firefox was displaying the cat's image, you could not even see the eyes. They were just shadows.

Redmpt wrote in post #18851197

Hosted photo: posted by Redmpt in
./showthread.php?p=188​51197&i=i143703124
forum: Birds

Redmpt wrote in post #18850914

Hosted photo: posted by Redmpt in
./showthread.php?p=188​50914&i=i23983006
forum: Pets

itsallart wrote in post #18850938
What a beauty with 2 different color eyes!

I did not see this problem with any other images. All images tagged sRBG render correctly with the setting both "True" or "False." I guess I am not looking for a solution, I have figured one out. I am more just wanting to know if I am the only one who has experienced this problem? Just wanting to make sure it is Firefox, not something else going wrong with my computer.

I'm wondering why you didn't convert to a recognized profile for these two images, instead of disabling color management with Firefox? Many browsers now support color management and will recognize sRGB, aRGB, and Pro Photo. When they encounter an image that doesn't have a profile, it gets rendered with the monitor gamut. So even though it might look OK now on your computer, it's going to be dark on another person's display that doesn't have color management disabled.

How to configure Firefox color management

I guess I should have explained this better. I have not disabled my profile, I turned off version 4 profiles in Firefox. This does not effect sRGB images in Firefox and has no effect on my Lightroom, Photoshop, or my system in any way. My system profile is still set and profiled with an Xrite i1Display.

I did follow the suggestions of the link you referenced before making this post. Following their suggestions (as well as those on other sites) causes this problem. Below is a screen shot of the settings I am using. Notice the line: "gfx.color_management.​enablev4" They suggest to make this "true." Of course I follow their suggestion but when I do, it causes the problem I am referring to. What corrects this problem is to set it to "false" as is shown in the screenshot.

I did download both images to my computer and they both display correctly in my photo viewer and in Lightroom. The problem is exclusively a Firefox problem.

P.S. I noticed there was no .icm on the end of the profile string. I added it to the file name and that did not change anything either.

Yes, I understand that it’s two images that don’t have standard color profiles that appear dark in Firefox (your OP stated they’re “uncalibrated”...not sRGB, aRGB, or pro photo). As my link went over: disabling those settings is disabling color management. The problem with disabling color management, instead of converting those two images to sRGB or aRGB, is that they’ll appear dark in other people’s browsers. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t keep color management enabled and convert those two images. It’s easier, and ensures consistency with other people who might want to see the images on other computers.

Your response is totally confusing me.

1. How can any settings on my computer effect how another poster's photos would look on a third party's computer? These photos are another user's photos that appear wrongly on my computer. There is no way any settings on my computer would effect another user when looking at someone else's photos.

2. Changing this settings is not disabling my monitor calibration. The only thing that is effected by changing this setting is the calibration of Firefox, and even then just images that are not tagged as sRGB.

I didn’t realize the two images in question were not yours, but it still seems we’re not talking about the same thing. Never did I say anything about monitor calibration: I am talking about the color space of an image. If a jpeg is saved in sRGB or aRGB, it should show up fine in Firefox with default settings. What you’ve done by disabling color management is tell Firefox to ignore color profiles and let your system handle it. Luckily, yours renders it lighter: it’s going to be inconsistent across other computers. If you know the author of these two photos, I’d inform them and recommend they convert the images to sRGB (the most web safe color profile). For others viewing these photos on any browsers, they’ll also encounter inconsistencies. If it were me, I’d prefer to keep color management on so I can ensure better consistency (and be sure my photos are saved in 1 of the 3 standard color space profiles). I understand that you may encounter some other photos on the web that weren’t saved in a standard space, but there’s just a few of them. I like that I can see my images on smugmug and see the same colors on my screen and printer, and have a better chance that someone else will too.

Nogo wrote in post #18851616
2. Changing this settings is not disabling my monitor calibration. The only thing that is effected by changing this setting is the calibration of Firefox, and even then just images that are not tagged as sRGB.

Your missing an important point. Your Firefox is not broken and you are not fixing it. The 2 images are broken and your solution is to break/disable colour management for ICC version 4 images so the faulty images appear to be correct - however the result is that (while the two broken images may look right) any icc version 4 images will then be displayed incorrectly - See the test image at http://www.color.org/v​ersion4html.xalter for an example.

Dan I agree with you fully. What I can not get past is the fact that not one other person has mentioned the "fact" that these images don't appear right to them either. Basically the unspoken reason I started this thread was in part to have others comment that it does not appear right to them either.

Since no one else has mentioned that they have a problem with either of these images, I am left with a likely scenario that there is something wrong with my monitor profile that somehow just effects Firefox and only for a few images. The only other likely possibility would be that others are seeing these images wrong too, and just don't think it is worth the trouble of figuring out why they don't look right. . .

So which is it? I suspect it is due to a recent Firefox update, but I have no way to verify that right now.