I have a large (growing) collection of scanned images. They are TIFF files, mostly 48 bit with the Adobe RGB color space. This color profile is integrated in the files. When such a file is opened in IrfanView (with plugins), it says (Image - Information) Adobe RGB 1998. "Normal images", like the JPG files from a digital camera, do not (necessarily) have a color profile integrated in the file.

I understand that it's necessary to include the Adobe RGB profile in an image file which uses the Adobe RGB space, so the color values can be interpreted correctly. Here's a test image with a completely different color profile, programs that ignore the included profile (like MSIE8 or Gwenview) will render it as sRGB (?):

I'm planning to convert my TIF files to JPG, so I'm wondering if there's anything wrong with using IrfanView that would save them as sRGB without embedding the sRGB profile.

I've heard that images should always be saved with the color profile included.

Since every image seems to be interpreted as sRGB by default (by software without color management), I don't understand why the sRGB profile should be included?