We aim to report an error analysis on single-shot profilometry when projecting a composite colored fringe pattern onto a surface containing different colors. Several studies have analyzed white surfaces using profilometry; however, when color is incorporated, new considerations must be taken into account. In this work, it is found theoretically and corroborated experimentally that each color introduces local phase variations that render in phase errors with a severity that is related to the crosstalk matrix of the projector–camera system. It is also shown that the phase errors are phase-shifting dependent and could be reduced with appropriate phase recovery algorithms. Experimental results are presented and compared with those obtained using a standard temporal four-step phase-shifting method.