Color Picker & Converter

HEX, RGB, HSL & HSV Explained

Colors in web design and graphic design are represented in several formats. Understanding each helps you work efficiently across design tools, CSS, and programming.

Color Format Reference

Understanding Color Theory

• Complementary: Opposite colors on the wheel — high contrast
• Analogous: Adjacent colors — harmonious, serene
• Triadic: Three evenly spaced colors — vibrant, balanced
• Monochromatic: Variations of a single hue — clean, unified

How to Use the Color Picker and Converter

1. Use the color picker to select any color visually, or enter a color value directly in any supported format (HEX, RGB, HSL, or HSV). The tool automatically converts between all formats as you type or pick.
2. View the converted values instantly: HEX (#RRGGBB), RGB (r, g, b), HSL (h, s%, l%), and HSV (h, s%, v%). Each format is displayed in its standard notation, ready to copy and paste into your CSS, design tool, or code.
3. Click any format value to copy it to your clipboard. Use the generated color palette to explore complementary shades and tints based on your selected color.
4. Fine-tune your color by adjusting the hue, saturation, and lightness sliders, or by dragging the picker directly on the color wheel and brightness gradient.

Understanding Color Models and Conversion

Digital colors are represented in several models, each suited to different tasks. The HEX format (#RRGGBB) encodes red, green, and blue channels as two-digit hexadecimal values (00-FF), producing values like #FF5733. This is the most common format in CSS and HTML. The RGB model expresses the same channels as decimal values from 0 to 255, written as rgb(255, 87, 51). Both HEX and RGB are device-dependent and describe how a monitor emits light — they tell the screen how much of each primary color to output.

The HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) and HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value/Brightness) models are designed to be more intuitive for humans. Hue represents the color itself as an angle from 0° to 360° around the color wheel (0° = red, 120° = green, 240° = blue). Saturation represents the intensity or purity of the color from 0% (gray) to 100% (fully saturated). Lightness (HSL) ranges from 0% (black) through 50% (pure color) to 100% (white), while Value (HSV) ranges from 0% (black) to 100% (full brightness). HSL is particularly useful for generating color palettes because adjusting lightness independently of hue and saturation produces natural tints and shades.

Converting between color models involves straightforward mathematical formulas. RGB to HSL involves normalizing RGB values to 0-1, finding the maximum and minimum channels, and computing hue, saturation, and lightness from there. HSL back to RGB requires converting the cylindrical coordinates back to the Cartesian RGB space. These conversions are lossless — no color information is lost between HEX, RGB, HSL, and HSV for fully opaque colors. When alpha transparency is needed, formats extend to RGBA, HSLA, and 8-digit HEX (#RRGGBBAA). This tool handles all conversions instantly in your browser, making it easy to move between design tools (which often use HSV), CSS (which favors HEX and HSL), and image editing software.