Design tools, CSS and image editors don't always agree on which color format to use — knowing what each one means makes it much easier to translate a color between them.
HEX
A HEX code like #2563EB represents red, green and blue as three two-digit hexadecimal values (25, 63, EB), each ranging from 00 to FF (0–255). It's compact and extremely common in CSS and design tools, but the hexadecimal values aren't intuitive to read at a glance.
RGB
RGB expresses the same three channels in plain decimal numbers instead: rgb(37, 99, 235) is the same color as the HEX code above. It's more human-readable than HEX for understanding roughly how much red, green and blue are present, and some formats add a fourth alpha (transparency) channel — RGBA.
HSL
HSL describes a color by Hue (a position on the color wheel, 0–360°), Saturation (how vivid vs. gray, 0–100%) and Lightness (how close to black or white, 0–100%) — hsl(221, 83%, 53%) is, again, the same color. HSL is often the most intuitive format for design work, since adjusting just the lightness or saturation value predictably lightens, darkens, or desaturates a color without changing its underlying hue.
Why you'd need to convert between them
A design handed off as a HEX code might need to become HSL to programmatically generate lighter/darker shades, or an RGB value pulled from an image editor might need to become HEX to paste into CSS. Every format describes the exact same colors — converting is purely a matter of representation, with no loss of accuracy.
How to convert between color formats
Enter a color into the Color Converter — using the picker or by typing a HEX, RGB or HSL value — and see it instantly converted to the other two formats, with a live preview.
FAQ
Which format should I use in my CSS? Any of the three work in modern CSS. HEX is the most common convention, RGB is useful when you need an alpha channel, and HSL is convenient when you want to programmatically lighten or darken a color.
Do HEX, RGB and HSL ever produce slightly different colors for the "same" value? No — when converted correctly, they represent the identical color; the numbers just describe it using a different system.
What does the "A" in RGBA or HSLA mean? Alpha — the opacity of the color, from fully transparent (0) to fully opaque (1 or 100%).
Convert a color now
Try the free Color Converter with a live picker and preview. See more converters.
Related reading
Browse the full blog for more guides.