Color Palette Extractor

Turn an image into a color palette

Great color schemes are often found, not invented: a sunset, a product photo, a painting or a competitor's banner. Picking colors one pixel at a time with an eyedropper misses the overall feel of the image.

This tool analyzes the whole image and extracts its dominant colors using median cut quantization, the method behind the popular Color Thief library. It groups similar pixels together and returns a representative color for each group, giving you a balanced palette in HEX and RGB.

How to extract a color palette

1. 1

   Step 1: Drop an image

   The palette is extracted automatically as soon as the image loads.

2. 2

   Step 2: Choose how many colors

   Select 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 colors, then press Re-extract.

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   Step 3: Review the swatches

   Each color shows its HEX code and RGB value.

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   Step 4: Copy the codes

   Click a swatch to copy its HEX code, or copy all codes at once.

Palette features

What to use palettes for

• Brand and website colors. Build a scheme that matches your product photography.

• Presentations and social posts. Pick text and background colors that suit an image.

• Interior and fashion ideas. Capture the colors of a room or outfit you like.

• Illustration and art. Borrow a mood from a reference image.

Why the palette may not include a tiny accent

Median cut groups pixels by how much of the image they cover, so large areas dominate. A small but striking detail, such as a red button on a gray product, may be merged into a neighboring color when you ask for only four or six colors.

Ask for 10 or 12 colors to surface smaller accents, or crop the image to the area that matters first with the image cropper.

From palette to usable color scheme

A raw palette is a starting point. For interfaces, choose one dark color for text, one light color for backgrounds, and one saturated color as the accent. Check text contrast before using a pair together; body text should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 against its background.

HEX codes paste directly into CSS as color values, and most design tools accept them in their color pickers.

• Text: the darkest palette color.
• Background: the lightest palette color.
• Accent: the most saturated color, used sparingly.

Tips for better palettes

• Use well-exposed photos; dark or washed-out images give muddy colors.
• Crop out borders and watermarks before extracting.
• Try several color counts; 6 to 8 is often the sweet spot.
• Save the copied HEX list in your project notes for later.

Color palette extractor FAQ