What color formats can this tool convert between?

HEX, RGB, RGBA, HSL, HSLA, HSV/HSB, and CMYK — enter a color in any format and all others update instantly, with a live swatch preview.

What is the difference between HEX and RGB?

They express the same values differently: HEX #FF6600 is RGB(255, 102, 0) written in hexadecimal. HEX is compact for CSS; RGB is easier to manipulate programmatically and supports alpha via RGBA.

When should I use HSL instead of RGB?

HSL (hue, saturation, lightness) matches how humans think about color — 'the same blue, but lighter' is just a lightness change. It's ideal for building color palettes, hover states, and design system shades from a base hue.

Why do CMYK colors look different from screen colors?

CMYK is subtractive ink mixing for print; RGB is additive light for screens. CMYK covers a smaller gamut, so vivid screen colors (especially bright greens and blues) shift when printed. Always proof print work in CMYK.

What is an 8-digit HEX code?

The last two digits encode alpha (transparency): #FF660080 is orange at ~50% opacity. It's equivalent to rgba(255, 102, 0, 0.5) and supported in all modern browsers.

Color Converter — HEX to RGB, HSL, HSV & CMYK Free Tool...

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Color Converter — HEX, RGB, HSL, HSV & CMYK in One Place

The same orange is #FF6600 in CSS, rgb(255, 102, 0) in JavaScript, hsl(24, 100%, 50%) in a design system, and cmyk(0%, 60%, 100%, 0%) on a print proof. This free converter translates between all of them instantly — enter any format, get every format, with a live swatch and picker. In-browser, no signup.

Choosing the Right Format for the Job

Format	Best for	Example
HEX	CSS, design handoff, brevity	#FF6600
RGB / RGBA	JavaScript manipulation, transparency	rgba(255,102,0,0.5)
HSL / HSLA	Palette building, programmatic shades	hsl(24,100%,50%)
HSV / HSB	Design tool pickers (Photoshop, Figma)	hsv(24,100%,100%)
CMYK	Print production	0,60,100,0

Why Designers Are Switching to HSL

Need a hover state 10% darker than your brand blue? In RGB, that's non-obvious math across three channels. In HSL, it's hsl(216, 90%, 45%) instead of hsl(216, 90%, 55%) — change one number. Entire design-token systems are built this way: fix the hue, vary lightness in steps (95%, 85%, ... 15%) and you get a coherent 10-shade scale for free. Convert your existing HEX brand colors here to discover their HSL coordinates and unlock that workflow.

The Screen-to-Print Gamut Problem

RGB mixes light (additive — all channels full = white); CMYK mixes ink (subtractive — all inks full ≈ black). CMYK's gamut is smaller, so saturated screen colors, especially electric blues and neon greens, physically cannot be printed and get clamped to the nearest printable shade. If a design is destined for print, convert to CMYK early and evaluate the shifted values rather than being surprised at the print shop.

Accessibility Tip

When picking text/background pairs, aim for a WCAG contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for body text (3:1 for large text). Converting to HSL makes fixing failures intuitive — usually you just push the lightness values further apart while keeping the hues.

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All conversion math runs locally with no limits and no account. Keep it open next to your editor as a permanent color scratchpad.

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