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?

1

12 Answers

In Windows, there is an easier way that doesn't need any software.

1. Capture the screen in an image file (use something like the Snipping Tool to grab the desired area)
2. Open the file with MS Paint
3. Use Paint's pick color and pick the color
4. Press "Edit Colors" button
5. You have the RGB values!

8

Newer alternative

See Richie Bendall's answer about PowerToys' Color Picker. PowerToys includes multiple useful utilities as well!

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Original suggestion

Instant Eyedropper is exactly what you were searching for.

How it works

1. Move the mouse pointer to the Instant Eyedropper icon in the system tray.
   
2. Press and hold the left mouse button and move the mouse pointer to the pixel whose color you want to identify.
   
3. 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.

• Clipboard color pattern (Hex, and others)
• Startup on system tray
• No overhead or ads and it's free.

Works on windows XP, vista, 7, 8, 10 and probably beyond that.

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Clarification on values returned by the HSB option

Note that HSB format gives standard values, which are:

• Hue: 0-359 degrees
• Saturation: 0-100%
• Brightness: 0-100%

Some tools like Paint on windows will give slightly different values:

• Hue: 0-239
• Saturation: 0-240
• Luminance: 0-240

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.

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^{I found this tool years ago and still use it from time to time. I'm not its developer nor am I affiliated with the developer. If it doesn't fit your specific needs or if you'd like to see a new feature, contact the dev himself on his website.}

22

If the image can be rendered in a browser, most of them have built-in color pickers / eyedroppers:

• Chrome - DevTools (F12) -> Elements -> Styles -> click any color preview box
• FireFox - Same as Chrome or Hamburger menu -> Web Developer -> Eyedropper
• Internet Explorer - DevTools (F12) -> DOM Explorer -> Ctrl+K -> Enable ink dropper mode (left most button)

1

Features I liked about Just Color Picker:

• It's free.
• It's portable (no installation is needed).
• Supports many color formats (HTML, RGB, HEX, HSB/HSV, HSL, CMYK and Delphi).
• Has hotkey and autocopy options.

2

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.

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.

3

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.

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.

You can use the official Microsoft PowerToys color picker. With the tool open, press Win+Shift+C to create an eyedropper:

I recommend Nattyware Pixie. Tiny (under 10KB), free, portable. And much easier than the Windows Paint route. Oh, and it's been around forever.

5

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.

If you're using Autohotkey, you can use Autohotkey's built-in program: WindowSpy

The path should be usually like C:\Program Files\AutoHotkey\WindowSpy.ahk. Or it may be AU3_Spy.exe.

Once you placed your mouse cursor on the color, you can press the shortcut key Alt-Tab and move the active window back to the WindowSpy program window, so WindowSpy stops its color monitoring by the mouse movement.