The invention is directed to an infrared sensitive color-forming composition containing a compound having an infrared absorbing skeleton and a thermochromic skeleton in a molecule thereof wherein the infrared absorbing skeleton and the thermochromic skeleton are connected with a covalent bond or an ionic bond and a binder; an infrared curable color-forming composition wherein the infrared sensitive color-forming composition further contains a radical initiator and a polymerizable compound; a lithographic printing plate precursor having an image-recording layer containing the infrared curable color-forming composition on a support; a plate making method including imagewise exposing the lithographic printing plate precursor and conducting on-press development processing by supplying printing ink and dampening water on a printing machine to remove a non-image area; a compound represented by the formula (7) as defined herein; and a compound represented by the formula (8) as defined herein.