Color Converter

Convert colors between HEX, RGB, HSL, and HSV formats. Pick colors visually with the color picker.

About the Color Converter

Color formats vary across design tools, CSS, and programming languages. Our Color Converter provides instant conversion between HEX, RGB, HSL, and HSV formats, along with a visual color picker. Whether you're translating a designer's HEX value to RGB for your code, or experimenting with HSL adjustments, this tool makes color format conversion effortless.

What Is Color Converter?

Colors on a screen are most fundamentally described in the RGB model, which mixes red, green, and blue light. Each channel ranges from 0 to 255, giving 16.7 million combinations. HEX is simply those three byte values written as a hexadecimal string such as '#2563eb' — the same information as rgb(37, 99, 235) but more compact, which is why it dominates CSS and design tools. RGB and HEX describe the exact mixture of light but are hard for humans to reason about when adjusting a color. HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) and HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value) reorganize the same color into intuitive dimensions: hue is the position on the color wheel (0–360°), saturation is the vividness (0–100%), and lightness or value is how bright the color is (0–100%). Designers prefer HSL because changing lightness while keeping hue and saturation produces a visually consistent shade family. All four formats describe the same RGB color and are fully interconvertible.

How to Use

  1. Use the color picker to visually select a color, or type a value into any format field.
  2. HEX values use the #RRGGBB format (e.g., #2563eb).
  3. RGB values use the rgb(R, G, B) format with values from 0 to 255.
  4. HSL values use hsl(H, S%, L%) with hue in degrees and saturation/lightness as percentages.
  5. Click the Copy button next to any format to copy that value to your clipboard.

Common Use Cases

  • Translating a designer's HEX value into RGB or HSL for use in code
  • Building consistent color palettes by varying lightness at a fixed hue
  • Converting colors between CSS, Sass, and design-tool formats
  • Inspecting and matching colors picked from a screenshot
  • Generating accessible color combinations that meet contrast guidelines

Examples

Input
#2563eb
Output
RGB: rgb(37, 99, 235)
HSL: hsl(221, 83%, 53%)
HSV: hsv(221, 84%, 92%)

The same blue expressed in four equivalent formats.

Tips & Best Practices

  • HSL is often more intuitive for adjusting colors — hue rotates the color wheel, saturation controls vividness.
  • HEX is the most compact format and is widely used in CSS and HTML.
  • RGB is the standard format used in programming languages like JavaScript and Python.
  • The color preview swatch updates in real time as you modify any field.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between HSL and HSV?

Both use hue and saturation, but they define the third channel differently. In HSL, 100% lightness is pure white regardless of saturation. In HSV, 100% value is the pure hue at full intensity. HSL is more common in CSS and design tools; HSV is more common in image-editing software.

Can this tool convert colors with alpha transparency?

The core conversion covers opaque HEX, RGB, HSL, and HSV. For transparency, CSS supports '#RRGGBBAA' and 'rgba()' / 'hsla()' with an alpha channel; treat the alpha as a separate 0–1 value layered on top of the converted RGB color.

Why does my HEX color look different in another tool?

The HEX value is absolute, so the difference is usually color-management related — different color profiles (sRGB vs Display P3) and uncalibrated monitors can render the same value differently. The underlying numbers are still identical.

How do I pick accessible colors?

Aim for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text (WCAG AA). Once you have a candidate foreground and background, vary the HSL lightness of one of them until the contrast target is met, then copy the resulting HEX.

This color converter runs entirely in your browser. No data is uploaded to any server. Your privacy is completely protected.

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