HEX to LAB Converter

Active color#000000

Hex Input

LAB Output

1Active Line0Valid Items

Convert HEX color codes into CIELAB, a color space built around how the human eye perceives lightness and color difference rather than how a screen mixes red, green, and blue light.

Input formats

Provide colors as 3, 4, 6, or 8-digit hex codes, with or without a leading #. Each line is parsed independently in batch mode.

LAB output

#FF5733 becomes lab(61.03% 63.55 55.96). The first number is lightness as a percentage; the second and third are the a and b axes, printed as plain numbers rather than percentages.

Why LAB exists

RGB and HEX describe how a display mixes light, not how far apart two colors look to a human eye. CIELAB was built specifically so that a given numeric gap between two colors tracks the perceived gap far more consistently, which is why it shows up in color-matching and print workflows.

Frequently Asked Questions

What HEX format does it accept?

3, 4, 6, or 8-digit hex codes with or without the leading #, such as #FF5733 or FF5733. Paste one color per line for batch conversion.

What does each LAB number mean?

L is lightness from 0 to 100. a runs from green (negative) to red (positive), and b runs from blue (negative) to yellow (positive). Both a and b are unbounded but typically stay within roughly -125 to 125.

Why convert to LAB instead of staying in HEX?

CIELAB is designed so that equal numeric distances correspond more closely to equal perceived differences in color, which HEX and RGB do not guarantee. That makes LAB useful for calculating color difference or building perceptually even color scales.