Color Converter
Convert colors between HEX, RGB, and HSL formats
Click to use color picker
How to Use
- Paste a color in any format:
#FF5733,rgb(255, 87, 51), orhsl(14, 100%, 60%) - The other two formats fill in automatically
- Click the copy icon next to the value you need
Why HSL and HSV Disagree About "Lightness"
Both HSL and HSV start by finding the max and min of the normalized R, G, B channels (each in [0, 1]). HSV's "value" is just max(R, G, B). HSL's "lightness" is (max + min) / 2. That single difference is why pure red #FF0000 is HSV value 100% but HSL lightness 50% — in HSL, 100% lightness means white, which pure red isn't.
Hue is the same in both: atan2-style angle around the color wheel, 0° red, 120° green, 240° blue. If max == min (a gray), hue is undefined — most libraries default to 0, which is why accidentally round-tripping #808080 through HSL can plant a phantom "red" tint in tooling that doesn't handle the singularity.
There's also the gamut problem. All three formats here assume sRGB (IEC 61966-2-1), which covers about 35% of the visible CIE 1931 color space. Convert a DCI-P3 photo color from an iPhone camera into sRGB HEX and you silently clip — the saturated teals and reds get flattened. For print or wide-gamut work, stay in the native color space (Display P3, CIELAB) and use HEX/RGB only for final web output. The conversion itself is lossless; the gamut clipping is not.