ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

SMPTE color bars

Okay, imagine you are drawing a picture and you want to make sure all the colors look like they should. You can use some special colors to help you check that your colors are “right.” Smpte color bars are like those special colors that help people who work with video and TV know if the colors they see are correct.

SMPTE stands for “Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.” They made these special colors that look like this. There are seven different colors in the bars, including black, white, cyan, green, magenta, yellow, and red.

People who work on TVs or videos use these bars to test if the colors are correct. If the colors are correct, the bars will look just like they should. If they are not correct, it can cause problems when people watch TV and the colors might look strange.

So SMPTE color bars are special colors that help people who work with TVs and videos make sure the colors are looking great!