Managing color data to transform CMYK source color data from a source device into CMYK destination color data for rendering by a destination device, the CMYK source color data and the CMYK destination color data being comprised of color pixels represented by cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K) values, in which a source color profile and a destination color profile are accessed, the source color profile containing a source color transform and the destination color profile containing a destination color transform. A determination is made, for each pixel of the CMYK source color data, whether the pixel has a non-zero C, M or Y value. In a case that a pixel is determined to not have a non-zero C, M or Y value, the CMYK source color data corresponding to the pixel is set into the CMYK destination color data, and in a case that a pixel is determined to have a non-zero C, M or Y value, the CMYK source color data corresponding to the pixel is transformed from a source device color space into CMYK destination color data in a destination device color space. In the transforming step, the source color transform is applied to the CMYK source color data corresponding to the pixel to generate device-independent color data in a device-independent color space, and the destination color transform is applied to the device-independent color data to generate the CMYK destination color data.