What is the purpose of a color profile in color management?

A color profile in color management serves to define the range of colors that can be represented within a specific color model. This is crucial for ensuring that colors remain consistent across different devices, such as monitors, printers, and cameras. Each device has its own way of interpreting and reproducing colors, which can lead to discrepancies in how images are viewed or printed.

By using a color profile, you can identify the color gamut (the complete range of colors) that a device can accommodate, which helps in managing and translating colors accurately. This allows for more predictable and reliable color reproduction, ensuring that what you see on your screen closely matches what is produced in print or on other devices.

The other options relate to different aspects of image processing and display but do not address the specific role of color profiles in managing color consistency across various mediums. For instance, enhancing brightness is about adjusting tonal values, while compressing image sizes pertains to file management and loading speeds, and adjusting resolution involves changing pixel density rather than color representation. Hence, defining the color range is the primary function attributed to color profiles.