Abstract: In order to establish a method for quantifying the color of tobacco leaves in the curing process based on image data, the tobacco leaf samples in the curing process were collected in Qujing and Sanmenxia production areas respectively. And the color CIELab actual values of tobacco leaves were calibrated. The image data of tobacco leaves in the curing process were collected synchronously. And the color parameters were extracted based on different color models such as RGB and YUV. The stepwise regression method was used to establish the prediction model of the color CIELab actual values of tobacco leaves in the curing process based on image data and applied for verification. The results showed that: (1) Based on the color calibration results of tobacco leaves by dispersive colorimeter, the brightness value L and yellowness value b of tobacco leaves increased first and then stabilized or decreased slightly during the curing process. And the redness value a increased first and then increased slightly. (2) Quantitative analysis of tobacco leaf images based on different color models revealed that during curing, the lightness (L), yellowness (b), blue component (B), luminance (Y), and blue-difference chrominance (U) values initially increased and then slightly decreased or stabilized. In contrast, the redness (a), red component (R), and red-difference chrominance (V) values increased sharply at the early stage and subsequently rose more gradually, while the green component (G) value continuously declined. (3) Regression models for predicting the true color values of tobacco leaves were established based on image-extracted color parameters. The prediction models for L, a, and b achieved coefficients of determination (R²) of 0.89, 0.97 and 0.77 respectively, with relative prediction errors of 2.3% and 3.6%, 15.9% and 16.8%, and 4.9% and 6.0% for the two production regions. (4) Validation using extensive image data from the curing process showed that the model’s predicted values changes in tobacco leaves correspond well to actual values, with the L value increasing from 40 to 75, and the a and b values ranging from -15 to 17 and 20 to 57, respectively. Based on the quantitative analysis of tobacco leaf images in the curing process, the rapid and accurate inversion of tobacco leaves color actual values can be realized, which provides a method basis for accurately quantifying tobacco leaf color and identifying tobacco leaf status using images.