What it does
Scientific colour maps is Fabio Crameri’s versioned collection of scales for data figures, available free under the MIT licence. It includes diagnostics, application-specific files and a guide to importing continuous, discrete and categorical variants.
Choose the scale and variant before selecting the file format. In Illustrator or Affinity Designer, discrete and categorical palettes can be imported as ASE swatches. QGIS uses the matching QGIS XML file through its Style Manager. The Python guide shows both package access and loading an RGB text table into a Matplotlib colour map.
The diagnostics and archived releases make the scale choice traceable. Keep its name and release with the figure, since the history records changes to gradients and their direction. Some additional application formats are separate downloads linked from the main page.
The maps are free under the MIT licence. Redistribution must retain its copyright and permission notice; the guide also requests acknowledgement of the collection and supporting research.
Strengths
- Versioned archives retain the scale used for a published figure.
- The guide supplies application-specific import routes.
- Diagnostics accompany the colour-map collection.
Watch out for
- Some application formats are supplied through separate downloads.
Best for
- Researchers maintaining consistent, documented colour scales
Sources
- Scientific colour maps overview and formats (Oct 27, 2026)
- Scientific colour maps user guide, version 8.1.0 (Oct 27, 2026)
- Author-deposited version 8.0.1 archive (Oct 27, 2026)