Glossary → FOGRA39
FOGRA39.
the coated-offset CMYK characterization some transfer shops ask files to be converted with
A CMYK characterization data set for offset printing on coated paper to ISO 12647-2, produced by Fogra and listed in the ICC characterization data registry; the ICC profiles built on it are what a designer picks when a shop says convert to FOGRA39. It describes an offset press and a coated paper, not a garment, an inkjet head or a sheet of PET film. Some DTF suppliers still ask for it, Transfer Superstars among them, on the reasoning that converting yourself means you control how bright RGB colours land in ink. Other shops in the same trade ask for sRGB and run the conversion themselves, Printify's DTF file guide among them, so a file built to one instruction and sent to the other is converted twice. The loss is gamut: electric blues and neon greens are clipped at the first conversion, and no setting at the RIP brings back a colour the file no longer holds.
Where this matters: DTF › Colour mode and profile · Colour › Upload RGB, or convert to CMYK first