About

Design consistency relies on exact color replication across media formats. Designers and frontend developers frequently encounter scenarios where a specific hue exists in a raster image but lacks accompanying metadata or style guides. Guessing the color value often leads to visual discrepancies that degrade brand identity or user interface coherence.

This tool performs a pixel-level analysis of uploaded image files to extract precise chromatic data. By translating raw pixel information into standardized color spaces, it allows for the immediate retrieval of HEX, RGB, HSL, and CMYK values. This capability is essential for migrating legacy assets to modern frameworks, matching print materials to digital counterparts, or reverse-engineering color palettes from reference photography.

Formulas

The conversion from RGB (Red, Green, Blue) to CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key/Black) involves calculating the complementary colors and the maximum black component. The process normalizes RGB values to the range [0, 1].

First, calculate the black key K:

K = 1 − max(R, G, B)

Then, calculate Cyan C:

C = (1 − R − K)(1 − K)

If K = 1 (pure black), then C, M, and Y result in 0 to avoid division by zero errors in the software logic.

Reference Data

Color Name	HEX	RGB	HSL	CMYK (Approx)	Usage Context
Absolute Zero	#0048BA	0, 72, 186	217°, 100%, 36%	100, 61, 0, 27	International Klein Blue alternative
Acid Green	#B0BF1A	176, 191, 26	65°, 76%, 43%	8, 0, 86, 25	High visibility warnings
Alizarin Crimson	#E32636	227, 38, 54	355°, 77%, 52%	0, 83, 76, 11	Traditional painting digital ports
Amaranth	#E52B50	229, 43, 80	348°, 78%, 53%	0, 81, 65, 10	Food packaging visuals
Amber	#FFBF00	255, 191, 0	45°, 100%, 50%	0, 25, 100, 0	Traffic signals, energy indicators
Azure	#007FFF	0, 127, 255	210°, 100%, 50%	100, 50, 0, 0	Hyperlinks, primary UI buttons
Burnt Sienna	#E97451	233, 116, 81	14°, 78%, 62%	0, 50, 65, 9	Earth tones, rustic themes
Cardinal	#C41E3A	196, 30, 58	350°, 73%, 44%	0, 85, 70, 23	Academic branding
Cerulean	#007BA7	0, 123, 167	196°, 100%, 33%	100, 26, 0, 35	Medical sanitation references
Chartreuse	#7FFF00	127, 255, 0	90°, 100%, 50%	50, 0, 100, 0	Web 1.0 aesthetics

Frequently Asked Questions

Browsers and operating systems often use different Color Profiles (sRGB is standard for web). If your uploaded image contains an embedded profile like AdobeRGB or ProPhoto RGB, the browser converts it to sRGB for display, which may result in a slight gamut shift or desaturation.

Yes. Formats like JPG use lossy compression which groups similar pixels into blocks (chroma subsampling). This creates artifacts where precise pixel values may deviate from the original source. For maximum accuracy, use PNG or TIFF formats which utilize lossless compression.

RGB is an additive color model (light), while CMYK is subtractive (ink). The RGB gamut is wider than CMYK. When converting, out-of-gamut colors are mapped to the nearest printable equivalent, meaning exact mathematical conversion does not always guarantee an exact visual match on paper.

The tool processes image data locally in your browser canvas. While it is optimized, extremely large images (e.g., 40MP+) may cause a momentary delay during the initial rendering. The picking process itself interacts with the rendered canvas coordinate system and remains instant regardless of resolution.