Curcuminoids are polyphenolic compounds and include curcumin and its derivatives possessing a yellow color. In the present study, changes in the chemical stability and antioxidant activities of curcuminoids, including curcumin, demethoxycurcumin (DMC), and bisdemethoxycurcumin (BMC), were investigated under various processing conditions. The yellowness of a mixture of the curcuminoids (79.4% curcumin, 16.8% DMC, and 3.8% BMC) at 405 nm was proportional to their amounts analyzed by HPLC. The curcuminoids became less stable with increases of pH and temperature during storage. Exposing a solution of the curcuminoids to autoclave conditions ($121^{circ}C$, 1.2 atm for 15 min) decreased residual curcuminoid levels by 80-90%; however, as a powder under the same conditions the curcuminoids were much more stable with less than 10% loss. After autoclave treatment, scavenging activities of the curcuminoids for DPPH and ABTS radicals were reduced by 10.3 and 33.4%, respectively, whereas nitric oxide scavenging activity was slightly increased. The residual levels of curcumin, DMC, and BMC after autoclaving were 0.7, 1.4, and 0.9%, respectively, indicating that curcumin was the most sensitive to autoclave treatment. The results indicate that under processing conditions, pH and temperature markedly affect the stability of curcuminoids and major losses of curcuminoids occur after autoclaving. These conditions should be considered when processing foods containing curcuminoids.