microsoft / microsoft/terminal
Over-exposed colors on transparent background with 10-bpc + ACM
@lhecker is already working on this.
Since Nov 5, 2025.
- Dominant language
- C++
- Stars
- 105k
- Forks
- 9.6k
- Avg merge
- 3d 17h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 29
Description
### Windows Terminal version
1.23.12811.0
### Windows build number
10.0.26200.0
### Other Software
_No response_
### Steps to reproduce
1. In the NVIDIA settings application (NVIDIA Control Panel / NVIDIA App), navigate to the System > Display tab. Under the Color section, set Output color depth to 10 bpc.
2. Enable "Automatic Colour Management" in Windows 11 Settings -> Display -> Color.
3. In Windows Terminal settings, choose any standard sRGB image as the background.
4. Set the background image opacity to any value less than 100% (e.g., 50%). (or alternatively use a pre-made semi-transparent PNG image as the background with 100% opacity.)
5. Observe the terminal window on the physical display.
Example image:
The issue can be mitigated by either of the following actions, but both have drawbacks:
1. **Switching to 8-bpc color depth:** This resolves the over-exposure but re-introduces color banding on gradients, which is the primary reason for using 10-bpc.
2. **Disabling ACM:** This also resolves the issue, but it breaks color management for other applications that rely on it, causing color inaccuracies elsewhere.
### Expected Behavior
The background image should be displayed with correct sRGB colors, with its opacity correctly applied, without any color distortion.
### Actual Behavior
The background image's colors are severely distorted, appearing over-exposed.
Example result:
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Assessment
This issue has not been assessed yet.