Color Picker
Pick colors and convert between HEX, RGB, HSL formats. Generate beautiful color palettes instantly.
Color Palette
Click any color to select it
Multiple Formats
Convert between HEX, RGB, HSL, and CMYK color formats.
Color Palettes
Generate harmonious color palettes from any color.
Quick Copy
One-click copy for any color format.
Understanding Color Formats
Colors in digital design are represented using different formats, each with its own advantages. Understanding these formats helps designers and developers work more effectively with colors across different platforms and tools.
Common Color Formats
- HEX (#RRGGBB): Six-digit hexadecimal notation. Most common in web design. Example: #2563eb
- RGB (Red, Green, Blue): Values from 0-255 for each channel. Used in CSS and graphics. Example: rgb(37, 99, 235)
- HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness): More intuitive for humans. Hue in degrees (0-360), saturation and lightness in percentages.
- CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key): Used in printing. Represents colors as ink percentages.
When to Use Each Format
Use HEX for web development and CSS (most compact and universal). Use RGB when you need to manipulate color channels programmatically or work with opacity. Use HSL when you want intuitive color adjustments - it's easier to create lighter/darker versions or adjust vibrancy. Use CMYK only for print design and when working with professional printing services.
FAQ
A HEX color code is a six-digit hexadecimal number representing RGB values. The first two digits are red, next two are green, and last two are blue. Example: #FF0000 is pure red.
This tool automatically converts between formats. HEX pairs convert to decimal (0-255). For example, #FF = 255 in decimal. Our tool does this instantly.
HSL stands for Hue (0-360°), Saturation (0-100%), and Lightness (0-100%). It's more intuitive than RGB for creating color variations and adjusting brightness.
Yes! Modern CSS supports rgb(), rgba() (with opacity), hsl(), hsla(), and HEX formats. All work equally well in browsers.
Our tool creates palettes using color theory - complementary colors, analogous colors, lighter/darker shades, and harmonious variations of your selected color.
Pick and Convert Colors for Design
Click on the color wheel to select any shade, then get the hex code, RGB values, HSL numbers, and more. Perfect for web design, graphic work, or matching brand colors. Copy codes directly to use in CSS, design tools, or anywhere colors are needed.
How to Use
- Click the color wheel to pick a color.
- Or paste a hex code to see other formats.
- See RGB, HSL, and CMYK values instantly.
- Copy whichever format you need.
Common Uses
Web design: Get exact CSS color codes for websites. When building websites, you need precise color values for backgrounds, text, buttons, and other elements. This tool gives you multiple format options so you can use whichever works best with your framework or CSS preprocessor.
Brand matching: Convert logo colors to different formats. If your company logo uses specific colors, you often need those exact values in different formats for web, print, and digital applications. Pick the color from your logo and get all format conversions instantly.
Design systems: Create consistent color palettes across projects. Design systems require precise color specifications that remain consistent across all platforms. Use this tool to document your brand colors in every format your team might need.
Accessibility testing: Check color contrast ratios for WCAG compliance. When selecting colors for text and backgrounds, you need to ensure sufficient contrast for readability. This tool helps you experiment with color combinations and get the exact values for testing.
Understanding Color Theory Basics
Color theory helps designers create harmonious and effective color combinations. The color wheel shows relationships between colors, and understanding these relationships improves your design decisions.
Complementary Colors
Complementary colors sit opposite each other on the color wheel - like blue and orange, or red and green. These combinations create high contrast and visual interest. Our palette generator includes complementary colors automatically, making it easy to find colors that work well together.
Analogous Colors
Analogous colors are neighbors on the color wheel - like blue, blue-green, and green. These combinations create harmonious, peaceful designs. They work well for backgrounds and creating mood in designs. The palette generator shows analogous variations by adjusting the hue value.
Color Temperature
Colors have temperature - warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows) feel energetic and vibrant, while cool colors (blues, greens, purples) feel calm and professional. Understanding temperature helps you set the right mood for your designs. Use the HSL format to adjust temperature by changing the hue value.
Choosing Colors for Different Media
Web and Digital Design (RGB/HEX)
For websites and digital applications, use HEX or RGB values. HEX codes are more compact and traditional in CSS, while RGB offers better readability when you need to understand the color composition. Modern browsers support both equally well, so choose based on your workflow preference.
Print Design (CMYK)
Print materials require CMYK color values because printers mix cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks. What looks vibrant on screen might appear different when printed. Always convert your digital colors to CMYK before sending files to a printer. Note that some RGB colors cannot be accurately reproduced in CMYK - these are called "out of gamut" colors.
Mobile and App Design
Mobile apps typically use HEX or RGB values, just like web design. However, consider that mobile screens display colors differently depending on ambient light conditions. Test your color choices on actual devices in various lighting situations to ensure readability and visual appeal.
Tips for Effective Color Selection
Start with your primary color: Choose your main brand or theme color first, then build a palette around it using the color relationships shown in the palette generator. This ensures visual harmony across your design.
Limit your palette: Most effective designs use 3-5 main colors. Too many colors create visual chaos. Use the palette generator to find variations of your main colors rather than adding completely new colors.
Consider contrast: Ensure text remains readable against backgrounds. Generally, you need a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text to meet WCAG AA accessibility standards.
Test on multiple screens: Colors appear differently on various monitors, phones, and tablets. What looks perfect on your calibrated monitor might look washed out on a phone. Always test your color choices across devices.
Document your colors: Save your color codes in all formats (HEX, RGB, HSL, CMYK) in a style guide. This ensures consistency when working with different tools and team members.
Working with Opacity and Transparency
While this tool shows solid colors, you can easily add opacity to RGB and HSL values in your CSS. Use rgba() instead of rgb() or hsla() instead of hsl(), adding a fourth value between 0 (fully transparent) and 1 (fully opaque). For example, rgba(37, 99, 235, 0.5) creates a semi-transparent blue.
Additional Questions
HEX and RGB represent the same colors, just in different notation. HEX uses hexadecimal (base-16) with values like #FF0000, while RGB uses decimal (base-10) with values like rgb(255, 0, 0). They're interchangeable - HEX is more compact, RGB is more human-readable.
Screens use RGB (additive color - light-based), while printers use CMYK (subtractive color - ink-based). RGB can produce brighter, more vibrant colors that CMYK cannot reproduce. Always convert to CMYK and request a print proof for important projects.
Color accessibility ensures people with vision impairments can read your content. This includes color blindness (affecting ~8% of men, ~0.5% of women) and low vision. Use sufficient contrast between text and backgrounds, and never rely solely on color to convey information.
Yes! Most design software accepts HEX codes (type # and the code), RGB values, or HSL values. Figma and Adobe XD prefer HEX, while Photoshop works well with RGB. CMYK is primarily for print-focused tools like InDesign and Illustrator.
A monochromatic scheme uses one hue with different lightness and saturation values. Pick your base color with this tool, then look at the palette generator - the lighter and darker variations create a monochromatic palette. Adjust the HSL lightness value to fine-tune.
Web-safe colors (216 colors that displayed consistently on old monitors) are largely obsolete. Modern screens display millions of colors accurately. You can use any color confidently - web-safe restrictions only matter if you're supporting very old systems.
Use the color picker by clicking the color display area. Most browsers support picking colors from anywhere on your screen. Alternatively, use browser extensions or desktop tools to sample colors from images, then paste the HEX code into our tool to get all format conversions.
Create a style guide listing each brand color with its name, HEX, RGB, HSL, and CMYK values. Include Pantone numbers if you have them for print. Add usage guidelines (primary, secondary, accent colors) and specify which colors to use for text, backgrounds, and UI elements.
Modern browsers display colors very consistently. Differences usually come from monitor calibration, color profiles, or ambient lighting conditions rather than browser differences. If you see major variations, check your monitor settings and color management system.