Gray Component Replacement (GCR)

Gray Component Replacement, abbreviated GCR, is a technique for replacing gray tones otherwise made from yellow, cyan and magenta separations instead with black ink.

Advantages of GCR include:

• Black ink can be less costly than CMY inks.
• Resulting output is less susceptible to changes and shifts since you are not so heavily relying on the balance as much C, M, and Y.
• Brighter colors can sometimes be obtained on lower grade papers through the use of GCR.

Disadvantages of GCR include:

• GCR may reduce the ability to adjust some colors.

GCR is also termed "achromatic color removal."