---
title: CMProfileRef
framework: Application Services
role: symbol
role_heading: Type Alias
platforms: [macOS 10.0+]
path: applicationservices/cmprofileref
---

# CMProfileRef

Defines a reference to an opaque data type that specifies profile information.

## Declaration

```occ
typedef struct OpaqueCMProfileRef *CMProfileRef;
```

## Discussion

A profile reference is the means by which your application gains access to a profile. Several ColorSync Manager functions return a profile reference to your application. Your application then passes it as a parameter on subsequent calls to other ColorSync Manager functions that use profiles.

The ColorSync Manager returns a unique profile reference in response to each individual call to the [CMOpenProfile](colorsync_manager/1804853-cmopenprofile.md), [CMCopyProfile](colorsync_manager/1804870-cmcopyprofile.md) , and [CMNewProfile](colorsync_manager/1804911-cmnewprofile.md) functions. This allows multiple applications concurrent access to a profile. The ColorSync Manager defines an abstract private data structure of type `OpaqueCMProfileRef` for the profile reference.