Color Picker FAQ

Color picker questions

Is imagecolorpick.app free?

Yes. The color picker, the palette generator and the converters are free, with no account and no limit. There is no advertising on the site at the moment. It is published by a small Swedish company, named at the bottom of every page.

Are my images uploaded?

No. Images are opened and processed by your browser on your own device. The page’s security settings do not allow scripts to send data to other servers, and only the color codes you pick are saved, in your browser.

What is a HEX color code?

A HEX code such as #1E90FF writes a color as three pairs of hexadecimal digits for red, green and blue, each from 00 to FF. It is the standard way to give colors in HTML and CSS, and most design apps accept it.

What is the difference between RGB and HEX?

None in the color itself. RGB writes the three channel values as decimal numbers from 0 to 255, HEX writes the same values in base 16. rgb(255, 99, 71) and #FF6347 are the same tomato red.

What is the difference between RGB and CMYK?

RGB is for screens, which mix red, green and blue light. CMYK is for printing, which mixes cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink. Bright screen colors often cannot be printed exactly, so CMYK conversions are approximate without a printer profile.

What is HSL?

HSL describes a color by hue (the color family, 0–360°), saturation (how strong, 0–100%) and lightness (from black to white, 0–100%). It makes it easy to create lighter or darker versions of a color. HSV or HSB, used in some apps, is a similar but different system.

How does the palette generator work?

It takes up to 10,000 pixels from the image and groups them with the k-means method into the number of colors you choose. Each group’s average is one palette color. Transparent pixels are skipped. It runs in a background worker in your browser.

Why does a picked color differ from my photo editor?

Browsers convert images to the sRGB color space before a page can read them. An editor working in a wider space like Display P3 or Adobe RGB shows other numbers for the same pixel. JPEG noise can also make neighboring pixels differ.

Can I pick a color from my screen?

In Chrome and Edge on a computer, yes: use Pick from screen. In other browsers, take a screenshot to the clipboard and paste it with Ctrl+V or ⌘+V. The screenshot page lists the shortcuts.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. Choose an image or take a photo, then drag your finger over the image. The loupe shows above your finger and the color is picked when you lift it. Pinch to zoom.

What is stored in my browser?

Up to 30 recently picked colors and up to 20 saved palettes, as text codes in local storage. Images are never stored. Press Clear history in the tool, or clear the site data in your browser, to remove them.

Can I match paint or Pantone colors?

Only roughly. Screen colors and physical colors are measured differently, and light changes how things look. Use the code as a starting point and confirm with physical samples, as explained in the paint matching guide.