The color processing apparatus includes: a first color signal obtaining unit that obtains a first color signal in a first color space; a color conversion unit that converts the first color signal in the first color space into a second color signal in a second color space according to a color conversion characteristic associating a color signal in the first color space with a color signal in the second color space; a calculation unit that calculates a distance of the first color signal to an outer boundary of a color gamut in the first color space; and a color conversion characteristic generation unit that generates the color conversion characteristic to be used by the color conversion unit to make the conversion. The color conversion characteristic generation unit changes a generation condition of the color conversion characteristic according to the distance of the first color signal.