Grayscale uses tints of black to represent an object. Every grayscale object has a brightness value ranging from 0% (white) to 100% (black). Images produced using black-and-white or grayscale scanners are typically displayed in grayscale.

Grayscale also lets you convert color artwork to high-quality black-and-white artwork. In this case, Adobe Illustrator discards all color information in the original artwork; the gray levels (shades) of the converted objects represent the luminosity of the original objects.

When you convert grayscale objects to RGB, the color values for each object are assigned that object’s previous gray value. You can also convert a grayscale object to a CMYK object.