Compatibility with color management in older versions

When you open a scene saved in version 2015 or earlier, the color profiles used by File textures are converted to the corresponding color space.

This Color Profile... ... becomes this Color Space.
Linear sRGB scene-linear Rec 709/sRGB
sRGB sRGB
Linear Rec. 709 scene-linear Rec 709/sRGB
HDTV (Rec. 709) camera Rec 709
CIE XYZ scene-linear CIE XYZ
Use Default Input Profile

The color space corresponding to Default Input Profile in the Render Settings.

Any other value sRGB

Image planes had no color management in version 2015 or earlier. They default to sRGB.

IBL nodes default to Raw, with Ignore Color Space File Rules enabled.

Color management is automatically activated if it was enabled previously. However, you still need to set the other preferences as desired (see Configure color management).

The defaultViewColorManager node is still available in scenes for compatibility. However, its options are not used.