PRINTING United Alliance’s Print Properties Committee has released the new PRINTWide® 2026a Alpha profile with G7+, providing the print and graphic communications industry with an updated resource to support wide-gamut color reproduction, expanded color workflows, and greater alignment across modern print technologies.
Available now through iLEARNING+ for testing, PRINTWide 2026a Alpha builds on the purpose of the original PRINTWide profile: to provide an extremely large-gamut CMYK color space that can be used as both a universal CMYK translation space and a saturation-enhancing workflow tool. Updated to include G7+, the alpha profile gives printers, prepress professionals, color management specialists, OEMs, and software developers a resource designed for today’s broader range of devices, print conditions, substrates, and colorant sets.
PRINTWide was developed to address a practical challenge in modern print production. As inkjet, flexographic, offset, digital, packaging, wide-format, and expanded-gamut systems continue to advance, traditional CMYK print conditions can limit the full color potential of these devices. At the same time, print buyers, brands, and creatives still need predictable color exchange, reliable conversions, and visually pleasing output across workflows. PRINTWide helps bridge that gap by preserving more color information when highly saturated RGB or wide-gamut source content must move through a four-channel CMYK workflow.
This is especially valuable when the final print process may not yet be known, or when design and prepress teams need to maintain wide-gamut image content while still working inside software environments built primarily around CMYK production. PRINTWide can serve as a larger CMYK translation space for retaining more image color before final conversion to a specific output device. It can also be used as a saturation-enhancing profile in appropriate workflows where the goal is to achieve more vivid reproduction while maintaining pleasing tonality and neutral balance.
The PRINTWide 2026a Alpha profile with G7+ brings this concept forward with closer alignment to the next generation of G7-based calibration and print production. G7+ was developed to extend the benefits of G7 to a broader range of print technologies, media, colorants, and output conditions while preserving the familiar visual alignment and shared neutral appearance that have made G7 an industry standard. By incorporating G7+ into PRINTWide 2026a Alpha, the PPC is providing the industry with a new tool for evaluating wide-gamut CMYK reproduction in a way that supports both enhanced color and practical production consistency.
For production teams working with expanded-gamut systems, high-density inkjet, wide-format graphics, packaging, labels, or other advanced applications, the profile offers a way to better explore and manage the additional color capability available in modern print systems. For color management professionals and workflow developers, the alpha release also provides an opportunity to test, evaluate, and better understand how PRINTWide 2026a can be applied in real production environments.
As with any color profile, success depends on proper workflow implementation, device characterization, rendering intent choices, proofing practices, and alignment to the final print condition. PRINTWide is not intended to replace press profiling or process control. Instead, it provides a larger working and translation space that can help preserve color information and support more flexible conversions before final output.
The “alpha” designation is important. This release gives the industry access to the profile for review, experimentation, and workflow evaluation as PRINTING United Alliance continues to support the development of practical, standards-based tools for color reproduction. It is intended for professionals who understand ICC color management, G7/G7+ workflows, and the role of color profiles in production environments.
The release also reflects the continued work of PRINTING United Alliance’s PPC to provide relevant, usable technical resources for today’s changing print landscape. As print technologies continue to evolve, the need for shared color tools becomes even more important. Print buyers want consistent results. Brands want accurate and vibrant reproduction. Printers want to take advantage of the full capability of their equipment while maintaining repeatable production. Designers and prepress teams need workflows that preserve creative intent without prematurely limiting color.
The PRINTWide 2026a Alpha profile with G7+ is available now through iLEARNING+. Printers, color managers, OEMs, software providers, educators, and other industry professionals are encouraged to download the resource, and consider how it may support more flexible production across today’s diverse print environments.
Users are encouraged to provide feedback to the PPC to support continued development across workflows by sending feedback to Jordan Gorski, Vice President, Global Standards & Certifications, at jgorski@printing.org.
To access the PRINTWide 2026a Alpha profile with G7+, visit iLEARNING+.