Distance Metrics
Euclidean Distance
Standard geometric distance in RGB space
0
Very Similar
√((r₁-r₂)² + (g₁-g₂)² + (b₁-b₂)²)Max: 441.67Manhattan Distance
Sum of absolute differences in RGB values
0
Very Similar
|r₁-r₂| + |g₁-g₂| + |b₁-b₂|Max: 765Chebyshev Distance
Maximum difference in any RGB channel
0
Very Similar
max(|r₁-r₂|, |g₁-g₂|, |b₁-b₂|)Max: 255Delta E (CIE76)
Perceptual difference in LAB color space
0
Very Similar
√((L₁-L₂)² + (a₁-a₂)² + (b₁-b₂)²)Max: 100Perceptual Distance
Weighted RGB distance based on human perception
0
Very Similar
√(2(r₁-r₂)² + 4(g₁-g₂)² + 3(b₁-b₂)²)Max: 509.9How to Interpret
Delta E (Perceptual)
- 0-1: Not perceptible
- 1-2: Barely perceptible
- 2-5: Perceptible
- 5-10: Obvious difference
- 10+: Different colors
Mathematical
Euclidean & Manhattan measure raw distance in RGB space. Useful for algorithms but less accurate for how humans actually see color differences.
Best Metric?
For most design and quality control tasks, rely on Delta E as it best matches human visual perception.
Comparison
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