Color Palette Extractor

Extract dominant colors from any image — get hex codes and proportions.

Drop an image or click to upload

Color Palette Extractor — What It Does

Upload any image and the tool analyzes its pixels to identify the most dominant colors. Results include hex codes, RGB values, and the approximate percentage of the image each color occupies. Use it to build color palettes for design systems, match UI themes to photography, or identify brand colors from a logo.

When to Use It

  • Brand color extraction — Upload a company logo to get its official color palette
  • Photography-based themes — Match a website's color scheme to a hero image or product photo
  • Design system creation — Derive a palette of 5–7 colors from a reference image
  • Mood analysis — Understand the dominant tone or temperature (warm/cool) of visual content
  • Game asset analysis — Extract the color palette from pixel art or UI sprites

How Color Quantization Works

The extractor uses a median cut or k-means clustering algorithm to reduce the thousands of unique colors in an image down to N representative colors. It partitions the color space into N clusters and the average color of each cluster becomes a palette entry. The percentage shown reflects how many pixels fall into that cluster.

Tips for Better Palettes

  • Crop the image to the area you care about before uploading — backgrounds can dominate the palette
  • Extract 5–8 colors for a usable design palette; more colors increases noise
  • If a vivid accent color isn't showing up, it may occupy a small percentage of pixels — try increasing the color count

Frequently Asked Questions

How does color extraction work?
The tool uses a color quantization algorithm (median cut or k-means clustering) to group the millions of pixels in an image into a small number of representative color clusters. The center of each cluster becomes a palette color.
What is color palette extraction used for?
Common uses include: extracting brand colors from a logo, matching a UI color scheme to a hero image, creating cohesive design themes from photographs, and analyzing the dominant mood or tone of visual content.
Why does my extracted palette not match the obvious colors in the image?
Quantization averages pixel clusters, so very small areas of vivid color may be absorbed into larger neutral regions. Try increasing the number of colors extracted, or crop the image to focus on the region of interest.
How many colors should I extract for a design palette?
For most UI designs, 5–7 colors is ideal: 1 primary, 1–2 secondary/accent, 1–2 neutral backgrounds, and 1–2 neutral text colors. Extracting too many colors results in noise rather than a usable design system.
Is my image uploaded to a server?
No. The image is processed entirely in your browser using the Canvas API. Your image data never leaves your device and is not uploaded anywhere.