Also called Four-colour process, full colour, CMYK
Printing colour by overlaying four inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Everything in colour in an offset-printed book is made of them, except spot colours.
CMYK printing: cyan, magenta, yellow and black, overlaid to print colour. Diagram: IN TEMPO, licence CC BY 4.0. Reuse this diagram
In practice
Files should be converted to CMYK with the profile the printer uses for the chosen paper. Ask for it, because the same file prints differently on coated and uncoated stock. Some screen colours, a vivid orange or a clean green, lie outside what four inks can reach; if one of them is the cover colour, discuss a spot colour.
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