what does cri stand for in lighting

In lighting, CRI stands for Color Rendering Index. It is a quantitative measure of how accurately a light source reveals the colors of objects compared to a natural light source, such as sunlight or incandescent light, which has a perfect CRI of 100. The scale ranges from 0 to 100, with higher values indicating better color accuracy. Generally, a CRI of 80 or above is considered good, while 90 or above is excellent. CRI is important because it affects how vibrant and natural colors appear under artificial lighting, which is crucial in applications like retail, art displays, and residential lighting to enhance visual appeal and color fidelity.