Color Converter
Pure-math conversion across HEX / RGB / HSL / HSV / CMYK with input auto-detection — paste a color from your design file and go.
>_ USAGE GUIDE
Pure-math conversion across HEX / RGB / HSL / HSV / CMYK with input auto-detection: paste #1E90FF, rgb(30,144,255), or hsl(210,100%,56%) and all five representations appear at once, each with one-click copy.
- Paste any format: the input format is recognized automatically — no dropdown to set
- Read all five outputs: HEX, RGB, HSL, HSV, and CMYK listed together
- Copy what you need: one click per format
Compared with the Color Toolkit, this one adds HSV and CMYK: HSV is the convention in graphics software such as the Photoshop picker, and CMYK bridges to print. Picking a color from a design file, matching hues across applications, or translating a print color to screen — paste once and everything converts. The five-format view also works as a teaching aid: paste one color and compare how the same hue reads in each model, which builds the intuition to hand-edit any of them later. All math uses the standard formulas and runs locally in real time.
>_ FAQ
Q1 · What is the difference between HSL and HSV — why do two similar models exist?
Both are cylindrical models of hue plus two dimensions; they differ in the last two axes. HSL pairs saturation with lightness (50% lightness is the pure color), while HSV pairs it with value/brightness (100% value is the pure color). Photoshop's picker uses HSV (which it labels HSB) and CSS uses HSL — two tools, two conventions. The numbers are not interchangeable, so always convert rather than copy.
Q2 · Why does a CMYK value change color when converted for the web?
CMYK describes ink (cyan-magenta-yellow-black, subtractive mixing) and RGB describes light (additive). Their gamuts differ: some vivid printed colors cannot be displayed on screen and vice versa, so conversion is a best-possible mapping. Print color-matching must be judged from a CMYK proof; screen color is a reference only — that is a physical limitation of the media, not a calculation error.
Q3 · Does the case of a HEX value matter?
No. Hexadecimal is case-insensitive — #1E90FF and #1e90ff are the same color — and 3-digit shorthand (#09F) is accepted and expanded to six digits automatically. Output is normalized to lowercase, ready to paste into CSS without editing.
Q4 · Why are RGB values always 0–255?
Each RGB channel is 8 bits, giving 256 intensity levels (0–255) and about 16.7 million combined colors — 24-bit true color. Modern CSS also accepts percentages (rgb(12%,56%,100%)) and 0–1 floats, but they express the same scale. This tool outputs the most widely used 0–255 integer form.
Q5 · Why do converted values sometimes differ by a rounding step between tools?
Multi-stage conversions (say HEX to CMYK) pass through intermediate color spaces, and each tool chooses its own rounding precision along the way — differences of ±1 per channel are normal and visually undetectable. Compare values with a small tolerance rather than demanding exact matches, and treat a printed proof, not a screen, as the referee for print work.