Color Picker Online

Pick colors visually and get hex, RGB, HSL, and CSS values — comprehensive color selection tool

What Is an Online Color Picker?

An online color picker is a visual tool that lets you select colors from a spectrum or enter specific values and get the color represented in all common formats: hex (#6366F1), RGB (rgb(99, 102, 241)), HSL (hsl(239, 84%, 67%)), and CSS named colors where applicable. The interactive interface typically includes a color wheel or gradient field, lightness/saturation sliders, and numeric input fields for precise control.

Color pickers are essential for web designers choosing brand colors, frontend developers implementing design specifications, CSS authors who need colors in specific formats, accessibility auditors checking contrast ratios, and anyone building color palettes for digital products. A comprehensive color picker goes beyond basic selection to provide shade and tint generators, complementary color suggestions, contrast ratio calculations, and exportable color values ready for CSS, Sass, or design token files.

How to Pick Colors Online

1. Click on the color gradient field to select a color visually
2. Fine-tune using the hue slider, saturation, and lightness controls
3. Or enter a specific value in hex, RGB, or HSL format to load that exact color
4. View all format outputs simultaneously: hex, RGB, RGBA, HSL, HSLA
5. Copy any format with one click for use in your CSS, design system, or code

Why Use PinusX Color Picker?

PinusX runs the color picker with 100% client-side processing. Every color calculation, preview render, and format conversion happens locally in your browser. While color selection itself is not sensitive, PinusX's commitment to local processing means no tracking of your color choices, no analytics on your design decisions, and no data transmission of any kind. This is consistent with the privacy-first philosophy that all developer tools should follow. In November 2025, jsonformatter.org leaked over 80,000 user credentials from server-side processing — a pattern PinusX avoids by design.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between hex, RGB, and HSL?

All three represent the same colors using different models. Hex (#RRGGBB) is compact for CSS. RGB (red, green, blue 0-255) maps to how screens display color. HSL (hue 0-360, saturation %, lightness %) maps to how humans think about color — making it easier to create variations like lighter shades or less saturated versions.

How do I create a lighter shade of a color?

In HSL, increase the lightness value while keeping hue and saturation the same. For example, hsl(239, 84%, 67%) lightened becomes hsl(239, 84%, 80%). In RGB or hex, this is less intuitive — you need to blend toward white. Our tool provides a shade/tint generator that creates variations automatically.

What is a good contrast ratio for accessibility?

WCAG 2.1 requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text (18px+ or 14px+ bold) at Level AA. Level AAA requires 7:1 and 4.5:1 respectively. Our color picker shows the contrast ratio between your selected color and common backgrounds (white, black) to help meet accessibility standards.

Can I extract colors from an image?

Currently the tool focuses on color selection and format conversion. For extracting colors from images (color picking from screenshots or photos), you can use your browser's built-in developer tools (the eyedropper in Chrome DevTools) and then enter the extracted hex value into our tool for format conversion and palette generation.

What are CSS named colors?

CSS defines 148 named colors like 'cornflowerblue', 'tomato', 'slategray', and 'rebeccapurple'. These are convenient shortcuts in CSS but limited in selection. Our tool shows the CSS named color if your selected color matches one of the 148 defined names, making it easy to use readable color names in your stylesheets.

Your data never leaves your browser. 100% client-side processing.