Windows 11 Latest Updates cause DRAMATIC reduction in saturation of color in most apps and programs

I have updated Windows 11 twice in the last couple of months. Both times, I've noticed that my colors in most apps are severely degraded compared to what I am normally used to. I am a software engineer, graphics and color guy. I know color. Windows 11 has introduced changes that GREATLY affect the quality of color rendered on a graphics workstation type computer. There are countless reports of this, starting late last year (Nov. 2024) [there are prior instances, but I only installed the updated from November 24 at the beginning of June 25]...and the issue remains unresolved.

Background

My computer screen is an ASUS wide gamut screen. This screen offers a very wide gamut, and I have enjoyed very rich color with this screen for quite some time now (over five years). This rich color is essential to my photography and graphic design work. I can tell the difference between sRGB, Adobe RGB and my screen's native wide gamut at a glance. The sRGB gamut is VASTLY reduced compared to the screen's native gamut, and Adobe RGB, while improved over sRGB, is nothing compared to the full richness of my monitor when all colors render appropriately.

Additionally, I have a built in hardware switch in this particular screen, an ASUS PA329, which allows me to switch between native gamut, sRGB and Adobe RGB output. I have an image of a series of moon photos I captured during an eclipse some years ago. This eclipse produced a particularly vibrant red that shows on this particular screen, with an incredible level of saturation. When Windows 11 first installed updates (after some months not having installed updates, as I was not using this computer much before) at the beginning of June, I thought colors looked rather drab. But I wasn't using the computer for graphics work at the time. I've recently been using it for graphics, and the color issue has become a SEVERE problem.

I started checking my sRGB hardware setting, That saps the majority of color out of apps that are having this issue, such that they barely look much better than very low contrast color not much removed from monochromatic grayscale. When I switch back to my native wide gamut, colors again look to me, like they are rendering as sRGB.

This is a SEVERE issue. For anyone who does color-critical work in a wider gamut. The most critical case for me is my astrophotography, which I rely on having very rich colors as well as the ability to switch between hardware-calibrated sRGB and Adobe RGB representations, to help me tune the colors of my images for appropriate saturation with all three gamuts (DCI-P3 is close enough to Adobe RGB.)

Insights

Now, this issue came to a head today, as I updated windows again to the latest version. The problem was not resolved. I had really hoped it would be, as I've tried everything else, including:

• Install Latest Graphics Drivers (EVGA GeForce RTX 3090)
• Change ICM color profiles attached to my PA329 screen
• Fiddle with the various rendering intents in ICM
• Restore all default ICM profiles and settings
• Check registry to see if AutoColorManagementEnabled is set (it was 0, off/disabled)

When the latest version of windows did not resolve this issue, I started fiddling with other things, in various apps. The app that most notably appeared to have the muted and washed out sRGB color gamut applied to me was Opera GX, the browser I use most often.

As I was digging through Opera options, I noticed a setting to render via the GPU. Just on a whim I disasbled that...and voila, Opera suddenly started rendering correctly. RICH, VIBRANT, PROPERLY SATURATED COLORS (at least for this ASUS PQ329 screen and its very wide gamut.)

That struck me as very interesting, and I remembered another app that also provided such an option: Steam. Brought up steam, its colors also appeared quite soft and desaturated (definitely sRGB). Found its option to disable GPU rendering. Had to restart Steam to get that to take effect, and voila! RICH, VIBRANT, PROPERLY SATURATED COLORS!

The issue, appears to be with any app, that is rendered by the GPU. Which bugged me, as I had literally just updated my GPU drivers, I'm currently on v581 of the GeForce Gaming drivers, and that did nothing to resolve the issue. So this is a Windows 11 issue, not a driver issue.

Analysis

Realizing the issue is with apps that render through the GPU, I started looking for an old setting I thought I remember from years past in Windows, that let you configure whether you rendered apps via the GPU or not. However that option seems to have vanished.

I researched other options, registry settings to change, and did not really come up with much that I thought would actually apply. I then checked out the ICM settings again...and fiddling with those, as always, never actually seems to change anything (I don't know if those settings should take effect immediately or require reboot, but they never seem to apply regardless.) I had hoped that changing the Color Management settings, including the defaults, would have an impact, notably by changing the Device profile to my screens .icm file.

After no luck with that, I checked on Photoshop. It has its own ACM (Adobe Color Management) form of ICM. Color in photoshop was ALSO affected by whatever change to Windows has caused this issue. HOWEVER, because Photoshop uses ACM by default (and I usually keep it that way), I was able to switch the "Working Spaces" RGB setting to my PA329.icm profile, and suddenly everything in Photoshop started rendering properly again. Rich, vibrant, saturated. As I am used to and as I expect.

The default profile for RGB, however? The standard sRGB: "sRGB IEC61966-2.1". I switched back to that profile, and my rich colors deflated back to the weak, soft, dim, lifeless color of sRGB. I haven't relied on sRGB for anything, fundamentally, for years, Not even print! Even my printer has better color than this!

SO. The issue, absolutely, appears to be that, for some reason, God only knows why, Microsoft decided to change the baseline rendering in windows, for ALL apps (at least those that render through the GPU, although, for some reason, the W11 control panel/settings app actually seems to render everything fine, fully leveraging my screens rich wide gamut...strange...!?), to use sRGB.

This is TERRIBLE. This is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE. Microsoft is really screwing with anyone who does rich, wide gamut content work. Interestingly, it is also unlikely that the AVERAGE user, is going to notice this issue, as sRGB screens are still quite prevalent, and screens that support more of the DCI P3 or Adobe RGB gamuts are not going to experience as much of a noticeable difference (there definitely IS a noticeable difference for those who do any color critical work). It is going to be your color-sensitive PROFESSIONALS using PROFESSIONAL equipment, capable of rendering wider gamuts (notably Rec.709, Rec.2020, etc.) who will not only notice this degredation in the performance of Windows 11 color rendering and reproduction, but SUFFER from it as well. Color critical work requires the ability to render with the full capabilities of the computer screen in use! Windows 11 is no longer serving this purpose, it is broken, it is degrading the quality of rendered color, and this needs to be fixed.

Thankfully, given I've been able to restore Opera GX, Steam and Photoshop (and other Adobe products) to full color capacity, it is clear the issue is not with my ASUS PS329 screen. I do not have misconfigured settings, I am not using an incorrect hardware profile, etc. I've also reset all my screen settings anyway, to no avail. Using the default hardware configurations on the default wide gamut screen profile, Opera GX, Steam and Photoshop all render correctly, render richly and with the expected saturation.

The issue is and remains, a Windows 11 issue. A BUG, if you ask me, I certainly hope to God that Microsoft did not purposely decide to screw over their customers by forcing this pitifully desaturated and washed out color rendering on ALL of us. I also hope to God that you can identify the issue and FIX IT, SOON. Even though I have three apps rendering correctly, this does not change the fact that I cannot view any of my work in any other app, with the proper color. I am stuck looking at everything through the pitiful lens of sRGB and its weak, narrow, desaturated gamut. Simply UNACCEPTABLE.

Fix this, Microsoft!