HEX to CMYK converter

Paste a HEX code from your website or brand guide and get CMYK ink percentages for a print brief.

CMYKcmyk(91%, 0%, 4%, 52%)
HEX#0B7A75
RGBrgb(11, 122, 117)
HSLhsl(177, 83%, 26%)
CMYKcmyk(91%, 0%, 4%, 52%)
Have CMYK and need RGB/HEX? Convert back

How HEX becomes CMYK

  1. Convert HEX to RGB (each pair of digits is one 0–255 channel).
  2. Divide each channel by 255.
  3. K = 1 − the largest of the three.
  4. C, M, Y = (1 − channel − K) ÷ (1 − K), then × 100.

Worked example

#0B7A75 → rgb(11, 122, 117)
Largest = 122 ÷ 255 = .478 → K = 52%
C = (1 − .043 − .522) ÷ .478 = 91%
Result: cmyk(91%, 0%, 4%, 52%)

Good to know

  • Treat the result as a starting point for a print brief. Your printer’s profile will adjust it for the specific press and paper stock.
  • If your brand has official CMYK values in its guidelines, always use those instead of a converted value.
  • Need Pantone? That’s a licensed system matched by physical swatch books, so no pixel converter can give an official match.

Need the colour from an image first? Use the colour picker from image — it shows all formats at once.

How RGB turns into CMYK, one step at a time

Screens add light (RGB); presses subtract it with ink (CMYK). The standard web formula first pulls out as much black (K) as possible, then works out how much cyan, magenta and yellow are needed for the rest.

#E67828
  1. 1. Scale to 0–1 R′=0.902 G′=0.471 B′=0.157
  2. 2. Black K = 1 − max(R′,G′,B′) = 0.098
  3. 3. Cyan C = (1 − R′ − K) ÷ (1 − K) = 0%
  4. 4. Magenta M = (1 − G′ − K) ÷ (1 − K) = 48%
  5. 5. Yellow Y = (1 − B′ − K) ÷ (1 − K) = 83%
C0%
M48%
Y83%
K10%

Try pure grey (all three sliders equal): C, M and Y drop to zero and only black ink is used. Real print shops go further with ICC profiles such as FOGRA39 or GRACoL, which is why their numbers can differ from any online converter.

Common colours: HEX and CMYK reference

Basic web colours and a few popular named shades.

HEX to CMYK reference table
ColourHEXCMYK
White#FFFFFFcmyk(0%, 0%, 0%, 0%)
Black#000000cmyk(0%, 0%, 0%, 100%)
Red#FF0000cmyk(0%, 100%, 100%, 0%)
Lime#00FF00cmyk(100%, 0%, 100%, 0%)
Blue#0000FFcmyk(100%, 100%, 0%, 0%)
Yellow#FFFF00cmyk(0%, 0%, 100%, 0%)
Cyan#00FFFFcmyk(100%, 0%, 0%, 0%)
Magenta#FF00FFcmyk(0%, 100%, 0%, 0%)
Silver#C0C0C0cmyk(0%, 0%, 0%, 25%)
Grey#808080cmyk(0%, 0%, 0%, 50%)
Maroon#800000cmyk(0%, 100%, 100%, 50%)
Olive#808000cmyk(0%, 0%, 100%, 50%)
Green#008000cmyk(100%, 0%, 100%, 50%)
Purple#800080cmyk(0%, 100%, 0%, 50%)
Teal#008080cmyk(100%, 0%, 0%, 50%)
Navy#000080cmyk(100%, 100%, 0%, 50%)
Orange#FFA500cmyk(0%, 35%, 100%, 0%)
Coral#FF7F50cmyk(0%, 50%, 69%, 0%)
Gold#FFD700cmyk(0%, 16%, 100%, 0%)
Tomato#FF6347cmyk(0%, 61%, 72%, 0%)
Hot pink#FF69B4cmyk(0%, 59%, 29%, 0%)
Indigo#4B0082cmyk(42%, 100%, 0%, 49%)
Chocolate#D2691Ecmyk(0%, 50%, 86%, 18%)
Slate grey#708090cmyk(22%, 11%, 0%, 44%)
Sky blue#87CEEBcmyk(43%, 12%, 0%, 8%)

Questions people ask

What is #FFFFFF in CMYK?

cmyk(0%, 0%, 0%, 0%) — no ink at all, just the paper.

What is #000000 in CMYK?

cmyk(0%, 0%, 0%, 100%). On press, large black areas are often printed as “rich black” (adding some C, M and Y) for a deeper tone.

Can I convert CMYK back to HEX?

Yes — open “Have CMYK and need RGB/HEX?” under the converter. Note that different ink combinations can map to the same HEX, so going back and forth may not return the exact CMYK you started with.

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