Free online color tools

Color codes for screen and print

A brand color often arrives in one format and is needed in another. The designer sends a HEX value, the stylesheet uses HSL, the print shop asks for CMYK. The converters in this family translate a color between HEX, RGB, HSL and CMYK in every direction, so the same shade stays consistent from a website to a printed brochure. Keep in mind that CMYK values obtained by formula are an approximation: the printer's color profile can shift the final result.

The other tools help you build and check a color scheme: picking shades, combining them into a palette and making sure text stays readable.

Which color tool to open

If you already have a code, pick the converter that matches your pair, for example HEX to RGB or RGB to CMYK. To start from scratch, the color picker lets you choose a shade and builds a palette around it, while the color palette generator suggests sets of colors that work together. Before publishing, run your text and background colors through the contrast checker to see whether the pair meets WCAG accessibility levels. Front-end developers can use the CSS gradient generator and the box shadow generator to get CSS ready to paste.