What Is a Color Picker from Image?

A color picker from image (also called an eyedropper or color extractor) lets you click any point in an image and read the exact color of the pixel under your cursor. It's the digital equivalent of sampling paint from a photograph — essential for designers, developers, artists, and anyone who needs to match a color precisely.

How to Use This Tool

Upload an image — drag and drop, or click to browse.
Hover over the image — the magnifier lens shows a zoomed view of the area around your cursor.
Click a pixel — the color is captured and displayed as HEX, RGB, and HSL.
Click any value row — copies that format to your clipboard.
Browse the history panel — click any swatch to restore that color.

Color Formats Explained

HEX — six-character hex code like #3B82F6. The most common format for CSS and design tools.
RGB — rgb(59, 130, 246). Red, green, and blue channels (0–255). Useful for CSS, canvas, and many APIs.
HSL — hsl(217, 91%, 60%). Hue (0–360°), saturation (0–100%), lightness (0–100%). Better for adjusting colors systematically.

Magnifier Lens

Because individual pixels can be hard to see, the magnifier lens zooms into the area around your cursor — displaying a pixelated view at roughly 8× zoom. The red crosshair marks the exact pixel being sampled. This lets you pick colors with precision, even from busy or detailed images.

Average 3×3 Pixels

When enabled, the tool averages the 9 pixels around your cursor (a 3×3 grid) instead of using just one. This smooths out noise, JPEG compression artifacts, and grain — giving you a cleaner "average" color of a small area rather than an outlier pixel.

Lock Current Color (Compare Mode)

When enabled, the color you've already picked is retained as a reference. As you hover over the image, you can compare new colors against the locked one — useful when matching a specific brand color across an image.

Common Use Cases

Design — extract colors from inspiration images for a new palette.
Web development — pull the exact background color from a screenshot to match a site.
Branding — verify logo colors by sampling pixels.
Illustration — sample colors from reference photos while painting digitally.
Photo editing — check the exact RGB values of a specific area.
Interior design — pick paint colors from photos of rooms or swatches.
Print design — sample colors from scanned materials.

Tips for Accurate Color Picking

Zoom in first — for very fine details, the magnifier helps you see exactly which pixel you're on.
Beware of compression — JPEGs introduce slight color shifts around edges. Use the average 3×3 mode for cleaner results.
Beware of color profiles — different monitors display colors slightly differently. The HEX/RGB values are exact, but the visual color on your screen may differ slightly from another user's screen.
Use pure areas — for the cleanest colors, pick from large solid-color regions rather than edges or gradients.
Note PNG vs JPG — PNG preserves colors exactly; JPG introduces slight noise. When precision matters, use PNG source images.

Related Tools

HEX to RGB Converter — convert between color formats.
Palette Generator — generate palettes from a base color.
Contrast Checker — verify WCAG contrast ratios.
Gradient Generator — create CSS gradients visually.
Image Cropper — crop images before sampling.

Privacy Note

All color extraction happens in your browser using the HTML5 Canvas API. Your images are never uploaded to a server, never stored, and never shared. Close the tab and everything is gone.