Color Palette Extractor
Generate professional color palettes from any image. Get HEX, RGB, and HSL codes with one-click copying and JSON export.
Drag & drop a file here, Ctrl+V to paste, oror
HEX, RGB, HSL
Get all color formats with one-click copying.
Smart Extraction
Automatic dominant color detection and palette generation.
Export Palette
Download as JSON, CSS custom properties, or Tailwind config.
How it works
How color extraction works
The tool samples pixels across your image and groups similar tones using k-means clustering. Dominant clusters become your palette — the 5–8 colors that define the image's visual identity. Results include HEX, RGB, and HSL values ready for CSS, Figma, or any design tool. The algorithm weighs pixel frequency and spatial distribution to prioritize colors that truly dominate the composition over minor accent tones. Learn more in our color palette extraction guide.
What designers use it for
Build a brand palette from product photography, match website colors to hero images, or analyze competitor visual identity. Use the Similarity Scanner alongside to compare how closely two images match in overall tone and composition. Click any swatch to copy its value instantly. Export the full palette as JSON for your design system or style guide. Interior designers use it to extract wall and furniture tones from inspiration photos. Marketing teams pull color schemes from campaign images for consistency across collateral.
How it compares
Browser extensions and desktop tools like Adobe Color can extract palettes, but they require installation and often lock results behind accounts. Scanly's palette extractor runs entirely in the browser with no signup — upload an image, get colors, copy values. Unlike eyedropper tools that pick single pixels, k-means clustering analyzes the entire image to find statistically dominant color groups, producing more representative palettes.
Tips for best palettes
Use high-quality source images — heavily compressed JPEGs introduce color banding that skews results. Crop to the area of interest before uploading if you want colors from a specific region rather than the entire frame. Photos with a clear subject and limited background noise produce the most useful palettes. Pair with the Quality Analyzer to verify image resolution and sharpness alongside your color workflow. For batch processing, run multiple product photos through the Batch Scanner first to verify image quality before extracting palettes.
Color is one of the most powerful elements in visual communication — it influences brand perception, user experience, and emotional response. Extracting a palette from an existing image gives designers a concrete starting point grounded in real-world visual data rather than abstract theory. This is especially useful when building websites around hero photography, creating social media templates that match brand imagery, or developing mood boards from reference photos. For related image analysis, the color extraction tool page covers format-specific nuances, and the image optimization hub explains how color depth and compression affect image quality and file size. Whether you are building a website, designing print materials, or creating social media assets, starting from real image colors ensures visual coherence across your project.