〔Abstract〕 Objective To explore the clinical application value of CIE 1976 L*a*b*(Lab) color space in the differential diagnosis of early esophageal cancer and non-cancerous lesions. Methods We selected the endoscopic images of patients with esophageal lesions confirmed by pathology who underwent white light imaging endoscopy (WLI) and narrow band imaging endoscopy (NBI). Five regions of interest (ROI) were selected respectively from the mucosa of the lesion area and the mucosa of the surrounding normal area for labeling. The Lab color space parameters were extracted and counted, and the color difference values (ΔE*）were calculated. Results A total of 213 eligible patients were included for analysis in the study. In WLI and NBI modes, there were differences in mucosal color between the early esophageal cancer group and the non-cancer group (P < 0.05). Compared with WLI mode, NBI mode could significantly increase the color difference between early esophageal cancer and non-cancerous lesions (P < 0.05). The lightness component value (L* value) of the early esophageal cancer lesion area was lower than that of the non-cancerous lesion area, and this color difference was more significant in the NBI mode (P < 0.05). In WLI mode, there was no significant difference in yellow-blue component value (b* value) between the mucosa of early esophageal cancer and non-cancerous lesions (P > 0.05). However, in the NBI mode, the b* value of the mucosa in the non-cancerous lesion area was higher than that in the early esophageal cancer lesion area (P < 0.05). On the red-green axis, the mucosa of the early esophageal cancer and non-cancerous lesions was red in WLI mode and green in NBI mode. There was no significant difference in red-green component value (a* value) between the two groups. Conclusion There are color differences between early esophageal cancer and non-cancerous lesions under WLI and NBI. The color of early esophageal cancer is darker under WLI, and the color of non-cancerous lesions is yellower under non-magnified NBI mode. Lab color space is helpful to identify early esophageal cancer and non-cancerous lesions.