Extract a colour palette from an image
Pull the dominant colours out of a photo, with hex codes to copy.
Drop your file here
It is processed on your device — nothing is uploaded.
The colours that are actually there
Upload a photo and get its dominant colours as hex codes, with the share of the image each one accounts for. Click any swatch to copy it.
How the colours are chosen
By clustering — the pixels are grouped by similarity and the centre of each group becomes a swatch. That follows where the colours in the photograph actually gather.
The common alternative, median cut, divides the colour space into evenly-sized boxes instead. It is faster and it produces evenly-spaced colours rather than representative ones, which is why palettes from some tools contain shades that are barely present in the picture.
The seeding is deterministic, so the same photo always gives the same palette — which matters when you are comparing two images or coming back to one later.
Reading the percentages
They tell you which colour should dominate a design built from the palette. A photo that is 60% sky gives a palette led by blue, and using that blue as an accent rather than a background inverts the feeling of the original.
The usual rule is roughly 60/30/10 — the dominant colour as background, the second as supporting areas, the third as accents.
Where it is used
Building a site palette from a hero photograph. Matching a design to a product shot. Finding the actual brand colours in a logo when nobody has the brand guide. Choosing text colours that sit comfortably against an image.
Check the contrast
A palette from a photo is not automatically readable. Run any text-and-background pair through the contrast checker before committing to it.
Common questions
How are the colours chosen?
By clustering pixels by similarity, so the swatches follow where the colours actually gather rather than dividing the space evenly.
Will I get the same palette twice?
Yes, the seeding is deterministic.
What do the percentages mean?
The share of the image each colour accounts for — which tells you which should dominate a design.
Can I use these colours for text?
Check them first. A palette from a photo is not automatically readable.
Is my image uploaded?
No, it is sampled in your browser.