HEX to CMYK Converter
Type or paste a HEX color: 3, 6 or 8 digits, with or without the #. A pasted CSS line works too.
cmyk(0%, 100%, 100%, 0%)#FF0000cmyk(0%, 100%, 100%, 0%)CSS Usage:
CMYK is not a CSS color format, so the CSS below uses the HEX equivalent.
background-color: #FF0000;color: #FF0000;border: 1px solid #FF0000;Popular Examples:
How to Convert HEX to CMYK
HEX to CMYK conversion is essential when preparing web colors for print. For example, #FF0000 (red) converts to cmyk(0%, 100%, 100%, 0%). CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (Black) — the four ink channels used by commercial printers. Note that CMYK has a smaller color gamut than RGB, so some bright screen colors may look different when printed. These values come from the simple formula without a print profile, so for a print job use the CMYK values from your printer's profile. Values here are rounded to whole numbers, so converting them back can differ by a few steps per channel: #1E90FF gives cmyk(88%, 44%, 0%, 0%), and that turns back into #1F8FFF.
Step by step for the color above
- #FF0000 is rgb(255, 0, 0): each pair of hex digits is one channel, 0–255.
- Divide each channel by 255: R′ = 255/255 = 1, G′ = 0/255 = 0, B′ = 0/255 = 0
- Black: K = 1 − max(R′, G′, B′) = 1 − 1 = 0
- C = (1 − R′ − K) / (1 − K) = 0, M = (1 − G′ − K) / (1 − K) = 1, Y = (1 − B′ − K) / (1 − K) = 1
- As whole percent: cmyk(0%, 100%, 100%, 0%)
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