HEX to CMYK Converter
Type a HEX value and get CMYK straight away. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is sent to a server.
How the conversion works
The HEX becomes RGB, then K (black) = 1 − the largest channel, and the remaining channels are corrected by K to give C, M and Y. No ICC profile is applied, so treat it as a starting point for print.
HEX
HEX is the same red-green-blue triplet as RGB, just written in base 16 so each channel fits in two characters. It survives everywhere — CSS, design tools, config files — because it is short and unambiguous. Case does not matter, and #abc is shorthand for #aabbcc. An eight-digit HEX adds alpha as a final pair, which is why #FF000080 is half-transparent red.
CMYK
CMYK is for ink, not light. Instead of adding brightness it subtracts it: cyan, magenta and yellow filter the white of the paper, and a separate black plate keeps dark areas from turning muddy and soaking the sheet. The conversion below is the plain arithmetic one with no ICC profile, so treat the result as a starting point — your printer will shift it.
HEX to CMYK, step by step
Worked through with #FF6347. Every number comes from the same engine the converter above uses.
-
Split into pairs
#FF6347 → FF · 63 · 47 -
Read each pair as base 16
R FF = 15×16 + 15 = 255 G 63 = 6×16 + 3 = 99 B 47 = 4×16 + 7 = 71 -
Scale each channel to 0–1
R 1 G 0.388 B 0.278 -
Pull out the black plate first
K = 1 − max(R,G,B) = 1 − 1 = 0% -
What is left for the other inks
C = (1−R−K)/(1−K) = 0% M = 61% Y = 72% -
Result
cmyk(0%, 61%, 72%, 0%)
HEX to CMYK examples
| Color | HEX | CMYK |
|---|---|---|
| Red | #FF0000 |
cmyk(0%, 100%, 100%, 0%) |
| Tomato | #FF6347 |
cmyk(0%, 61%, 72%, 0%) |
| Orange | #FFA500 |
cmyk(0%, 35%, 100%, 0%) |
| Gold | #FFD700 |
cmyk(0%, 16%, 100%, 0%) |
| Limegreen | #32CD32 |
cmyk(76%, 0%, 76%, 20%) |
| Teal | #008080 |
cmyk(100%, 0%, 0%, 50%) |
| Dodgerblue | #1E90FF |
cmyk(88%, 44%, 0%, 0%) |
| Royalblue | #4169E1 |
cmyk(71%, 53%, 0%, 12%) |
| Blueviolet | #8A2BE2 |
cmyk(39%, 81%, 0%, 11%) |
| Hotpink | #FF69B4 |
cmyk(0%, 59%, 29%, 0%) |
Common questions
Can I send this straight to a printer?
Not for anything that matters. These numbers come from the plain formula with no ICC profile, so they ignore your paper, ink and press. Ask your printer which profile to convert with.
Why is K so high for dark colors?
The formula pulls out as much black as it can first, so a near-black color becomes almost pure K. Printers prefer this — it uses less ink and keeps the paper from getting saturated.
Some screen colors look dull once printed. Why?
A screen emits light; paper only reflects it. Bright saturated blues and greens sit outside what CMYK ink can reach, so they land on the nearest printable color and lose punch.