An artifact observed in composite systems employing quadrature modulation and frequency interleaving. Cross-color results from the multiplicities of line-scan harmonics in the baseband signal, which provide families of frequencies surrounding each of the main harmonic peaks.

These families become even more complex if there is movement in the scene luminance signals between scans. Since the interstices are, therefore, not completely empty, some of the information on the luminance signal is subsequently decoded as color information. A typical visible effect is a moiré pattern.