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How can I pick a color from an image?
When I move the cursor to any particular point in the image, I want the hex code of the color at the cursor to be displayed. I would like to be able to do that with anything displayed on the screen even if it is not an Image, say I am working on any Windows application having various colors.
Is there a way to do that?
Ananth
Posted 2011-03-10T09:22:44.117
Reputation: 991
102
In Windows, there is an easier way that doesn't need any software.
bsz
Posted 2011-03-10T09:22:44.117
Reputation: 1 176
9As far as I'm concerned, this is the best solution listed, since it is universal and doesn't require installing any new software. – Ochado – 2015-10-19T14:34:40.170
14Slow and tedious. We just need a quick color picker... – Pere – 2016-07-20T08:19:15.857
4.. and if the MS Paint can show and the hex color. :) – Nikola Obreshkov – 2016-09-12T12:24:12.903
To capture a full screen you can also use the print screen key, or alt + print screen to capture only the currently selected window. – Gruber – 2016-12-19T22:10:42.780
4@Ochado As far as I'm concerned, this is not the best solution listed, since it is tedious, slow and doesn't use versatile available handy software. – PHPst – 2017-09-03T12:46:38.893
3Wait, Windows' default software isn't versatile or handy? – Aaron Hall – 2017-09-13T15:03:32.557
1
And since MSPaint uses decimal values to the colors, a quick online decimal to hex converter: https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/number/index.html
– None – 2018-04-06T11:15:57.103for finding the hex value, you can google rgb(192,68,141) and you get everything: Hex, Decimal, HSL… (well, sufficient, if you only use it now and then...) – Frank Nocke – 2020-02-23T10:55:55.223
56
Instant Eyedropper is exactly what you were searching for.
How it works
- Move the mouse pointer to the Instant Eyedropper icon in the system tray.
- Press and hold the left mouse button and move the mouse pointer to the pixel whose color you want to identify.
- Release the mouse button.
That's it. The clipboard now contains the color code - in HTML format (or any other format that you have previously specified). It can be pasted and used in any text or HTML editor or the Color Picker tool of Photoshop.
It comes with all the options that I personally wanted of such tool.
Works on windows XP, vista, 7, 8, 10 and probably beyond that.
Note that HSB format gives standard values, which are:
Some tools like Paint on windows will give slightly different values:
The reasoning is explained on the windows blog.
The theoretical range for Hue is an angle, normalized to be greater than or equal to 0° and strictly less than 360°. The upper value of the range is not reached because Hue is cyclical, so a value of 360° is equivalent to 0°. On the other hand, Saturation and Luminance are floating point values between 0.0 and 1.0 (inclusive).
In Windows, the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance ranges are rescaled so that they go from 0 to 240. Hue is endpoint-exclusive (because 360° = 0°) whereas Saturation and Luminance are endpoint-inclusive (because 1.0 is achievable).
If you want to use Eyedropper on windows with a tool like Paint, you can do the math with the ratios explained above, or just use the RGB value whenever possible.
Emile Bergeron
Posted 2011-03-10T09:22:44.117
Reputation: 750
2much better than all other solutions – George Pligoropoulos – 2016-03-08T08:08:06.437
2Perfect. Tiny, simple, and does the job. Thanks. – hajamie – 2016-04-27T21:56:16.490
doesn't work on windows 10 – shoosh – 2018-06-28T20:29:29.090
@shoosh the question is tagged windows 7 and XP, it's an old question from 2011. – Emile Bergeron – 2018-06-28T20:35:16.877
Well it shouldn't be buggy - HSB doesn't correspond to what standard Windows color picker has. I take RGB [166, 138, 202] - correct, but HSB gives [266,31,79] and Windows has HSL [177 90 160]. It looks like there are "4 HSL-s" promulgated by god know what kind of software but if a util if for Windows it has to match standard Windows color picker or it's useless. H is color wheel and whoever missed it even by 1 is giving you totally wrong color. – ZXX – 2018-08-09T08:13:09.123
@shoosh I'm back on windows, and just tested it on win10 and it works! – Emile Bergeron – 2018-08-09T13:11:24.557
@ZXX It gives the right values, but H is in degrees, so it goes up to 360, and the other 2 values are percent. – Emile Bergeron – 2018-08-09T13:30:34.857
@Emilie - just open any Win color picker, say Paint Edit colors. You can keep repeating that "it works" ad nauseum but if it doesn't match Win color picker exactly then it doesn't work - not as a Windows Eyedropper. Theoreticizing doesn't help at all. Yes you can find one of these "4 HSL-s" that "will match" but the meaning of that is nothing. It can match with something that's maybe standard on Mac on on one of Linux window managers or on the planet Mars :-) It's immaterial - the numbers it gives on Win are useless on Win. – ZXX – 2018-08-10T16:49:03.463
@ZXX It's not about platform standard, it's just windows doing things its way. I added an explanation in my answer so it's clearer why it's this way and how to use the tool on windows. – Emile Bergeron – 2018-08-10T17:16:43.833
2This works fantastic and allows keyboard shortcuts to activate. Great time saver! – SomeGuy – 2018-11-21T21:48:42.617
1Wonderful tiny app – Marco Demaio – 2019-03-28T13:46:32.757
Does not work on multiple monitors – Barry Chapman – 2019-05-13T04:37:17.000
@BarryChapman works for me. – Emile Bergeron – 2019-05-13T17:16:29.017
@emile Bergeron cool dude you win a medal! Still doesn’t work for me on multiple 4K monitors – Barry Chapman – 2019-05-14T18:11:06.333
@BarryChapman The thing is, the app works on multiple monitors, just not on your specific setup... Your initial comment is misleading. – Emile Bergeron – 2019-05-14T20:27:12.837
No yours that it works on all is. – Barry Chapman – 2019-05-15T23:00:14.767
Does not work properly on w10 with multiple 4K monitors. Two tested cases – Barry Chapman – 2019-05-15T23:03:31.523
@BarryChapman Never had any issues with it, been using it for years, on Vista, 7 and 10, still using it, always with multiple monitors. Maybe it has some issues with 4k monitors. You should tell that to the developer. – Emile Bergeron – 2019-05-15T23:21:10.167
@EmileBergeron I stated it was due to the 4K monitors. I rest my case – Barry Chapman – 2019-05-16T17:43:18.413
1The issue with "4K monitors" is probably really "issue with scaled monitors on Window 10". I have a 1920*1080 14" laptop + 2 x 1920 * 1080 24 inch monitors. It works fine on the 24 inch @100%, but loses track on the inbuilt monitor @ 150% scale – Gerry Coll – 2019-09-17T00:53:58.813
AntiMalwareBytes complains that , that site has a trojan. – O S – 2020-01-11T14:43:21.583
1
@OS the single dev behind commented: "Unfortunately I don't have time for now to solve issues, make upgrades, send to re-check or buy ssl cert for exe files. It's a hobby project." So some antiviruses may treat it as a threat but it's really just not up to date.
– Emile Bergeron – 2020-01-11T19:14:08.63315
If the image can be rendered in a browser, most of them have built-in color pickers / eyedroppers:
F12) -> Elements -> Styles -> click any color preview box 
F12) -> DOM Explorer -> Ctrl+K -> Enable ink dropper mode (left most button)
Ohad Schneider
Posted 2011-03-10T09:22:44.117
Reputation: 562
7
Features I liked about Just Color Picker:
AXO
Posted 2011-03-10T09:22:44.117
Reputation: 578
Not working well on W7 – Marco Demaio – 2019-03-28T13:44:50.883
This is what is use. Works like a champ – Barry Chapman – 2019-05-15T23:01:25.847
3
PicPick is nice:
It is an all-in-one program that provides full-featured screen capture tool, intuitive image editor, color picker, color palette, pixel ruler, protractor, crosshair and even whiteboard.
akira
Posted 2011-03-10T09:22:44.117
Reputation: 52 754
9FYI - its not free or open source – Shital Shah – 2017-01-23T08:11:59.750
1PicPick does have a free version, which is only for personal use, and does not auto-update. Apart from that it is the same as the paid version. – CalvT – 2018-07-19T18:28:35.063
2
ColorPic is free windows app that works well for picking colors. They have a paid one as well but I find the freebie works for the simple stuff just fine.
Jafin
Posted 2011-03-10T09:22:44.117
Reputation: 461
2
I like Colorzilla when using Firefox. Simply use the eyedropper to click anywhere within the web page, including images, and it returns the RGB and Hex code.
Kevin Worthington
Posted 2011-03-10T09:22:44.117
Reputation: 1 554
8While Colorzilla is quite useful, this is not a solution when you want to pick a color "on any windows application having various colors". – Emile Bergeron – 2015-06-29T00:28:58.643
1While agreeing with Kevin, if your color is in a webpage, no need for extension (it may make it faster if you have to do this multiple times), but I just hit F12 to open the debug console, click the top left corner to "Select Element" and point to it on the browser – Nick – 2015-12-01T02:02:35.310
this is good, as it doesn't need any software installation, just open your image in browser or drag and drop the image in browser – shaijut – 2016-01-19T10:40:04.757
1
I used to capture HTML colors with the Color Cop utility. Different of the majority of alternatives, it allows me to capture and after that, move the mouse preserving the color captured with allows me to use Ctrl+C later on.
Wellington Souza
Posted 2011-03-10T09:22:44.117
Reputation: 121
0
I recommend Nattyware Pixie. Tiny (under 10KB), free, portable. And much easier than the Windows Paint route. Oh, and it's been around forever.
mach128x
Posted 2011-03-10T09:22:44.117
Reputation: 51
I don't know why it was downvoted. Up you go – Sunil Kumar – 2017-12-29T10:08:58.983
I don't think it works on modern screens with screen scaling (high DPI). Can't recommend this tool. – user643011 – 2018-04-09T05:52:18.770
1@user643011, you "don't think" it works? Actually testing it and being able to confirm that statement would be more helpful to our fellow users. – mach128x – 2018-04-09T14:27:05.613
2@mach128x: It doesn't work. – user643011 – 2018-04-09T14:29:28.767
0
Lot of answers already posted. I will add this answer as well.
Step 1: Capture the Screen
Step 2: Go to imagecolorpick.com
Step 3: Upload Image
Step 4: Move cursor to pick color from an image
Also, ImageColorPick displays Hex, RGB, CMYK and HSL color values.
Karuppiah RK
Posted 2011-03-10T09:22:44.117
Reputation: 101
2
I found that many of the available color pickers didn't work well with Windows 10 and high dpi, so I made my own tool: https://github.com/Bluegrams/Colora
– alxnull – 2019-04-14T21:45:14.083