Getting a website colour onto a card
Convert the brand hex to CMYK to give the printer a starting ink specification.
Hex to CMYK
Convert a hex colour to CMYK in your browser, to take a web colour toward print.
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Use Hex to CMYK
Converts hex colour to cmyk in this tab, with nothing sent anywhere.
Runs entirely on your deviceThe conversion happens in this browser tab. Nothing you type is uploaded, logged or stored, which is worth knowing for anything you would not paste into a search box.
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Browse all general convertersAbout Hex to CMYK
A hex code is the natural home of a web colour, and CMYK is where a colour goes when it needs to be printed, so converting hex directly to CMYK is a shortcut designers reach for constantly: taking the brand colour from the website and getting its ink values for a business card, a flyer, or packaging. Internally the hex is read as RGB and then converted to the four ink percentages, but you skip straight from one to the other. As with any formula conversion to CMYK, the result is a working approximation rather than a colour-managed match - the true printed appearance depends on the inks, paper and press - but for estimating and for handing a printer a starting point, it is exactly the figure you want.
Using Hex to CMYK
- The hex code is read as red, green and blue channels, expanding three-digit shorthand as needed.
- The channels are normalised and the standard RGB-to-CMYK conversion derives the black level first.
- The cyan, magenta and yellow components are calculated relative to that black.
- All four values are expressed as percentages.
- The output is written as cmyk(c%, m%, y%, k%).
Where hex to cmyk helps
Checking print feasibility
If the resulting CMYK looks nothing like the hex on a proof, the colour may be outside the print gamut.
Before you use the result
- This is arithmetic, not colour management. The real printed colour depends on inks, paper and press profile.
- Vivid web colours may fall outside the CMYK gamut and convert to the nearest achievable ink mix.
- It converts opaque colours; hex with an alpha channel is not handled.
- For final artwork, use the profile your print house specifies rather than this estimate.
- Percentages are rounded, as CMYK is normally quoted.
Questions about Hex to CMYK
Is it accurate for print?
It is a standard approximation. Final print colour depends on physical inks and paper, so use your printer's profile for critical work.
Does it accept shorthand hex?
Yes. A three-digit code is expanded before conversion.
What is the K value?
The black ink, derived from the brightest channel to reduce coloured-ink coverage.
Can every hex convert?
Every hex produces a CMYK result, but vivid colours may be outside the print gamut and only approximated.
Related tools
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Convert an RGB colour to CMYK in your browser, the model print uses.
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