What is the difference between HSL and HSV?

Both use hue and saturation, but the third channel differs. In HSL, lightness 0 is black and lightness 100 is white — fully saturated colours sit at lightness 50. In HSV, value 0 is black and value 100 is the full colour — to get white you reduce saturation, not value. Design software colour pickers typically use HSV; CSS uses HSL.

Does the tool support alpha / transparency?

Not currently. This converter handles opaque colours only. For RGBA or HSLA, append the alpha channel manually to the CSS output: rgb(255, 102, 0) → rgba(255, 102, 0, 0.5).

What is binary (base 2)?

Binary is the native number system of computers. Every integer is represented using only the digits 0 and 1. Each digit position represents a power of 2: the rightmost is 2^0 (1), then 2^1 (2), 2^2 (4), 2^3 (8), and so on. The decimal number 10 is 1010 in binary (8 + 2).

What is hexadecimal (base 16) and why do developers use it?

Hexadecimal uses 16 digits: 0–9 and A–F. Developers prefer hex because it maps cleanly to binary: each hex digit represents exactly 4 binary digits (a nibble). This makes hex a compact way to express binary values — the 8-bit byte 11111111 is simply FF in hex, and 32-bit memory addresses fit in 8 hex characters. CSS color values (#FF6600), file magic bytes, and network masks are all commonly expressed in hex.

Tool comparison

Color Converter vs Number Base Converter

Color Converter (conversion) and Number Base Converter (encoding) come from different categories but appear together in developer workflows. This guide explains what each does and when to reach for one over the other.

Bottom line

Colour values like #FF5733 are hex numbers, so Number Base Converter can translate individual byte values between hex, decimal, and binary. Color Converter goes further with HSL, HSV, and named-colour lookups. Use Color Converter for design work; use Number Base Converter for numeric radix arithmetic.

What each tool does

Color Converter

Colors in digital design and web development are represented in multiple formats, each suited to a different context. HEX (#ff6600) is the format used in CSS, HTML, and design tools like Figma and Photoshop. RGB (red, green, blue) is the native format of screens — each channel has a value from 0 to 255. HSL (hue, saturation, lightness) is the most human-readable format: you adjust hue to pick a colour family, saturation to move from grey to vivid, and lightness to go from black to white. HSV/HSB (hue, saturation, value/brightness) is used in colour pickers in design software and is similar to HSL but with different semantics for the third channel. Converting between formats is necessary when moving colours from a design tool (HEX or HSL) to CSS code (rgb()), from a colour picker (HSV) to a data attribute (HEX), or when programmatically generating palettes by rotating the hue in HSL.

Open Color Converter →

Number Base Converter

The Number Base Converter converts integers between the four bases used in computing: binary (base 2), octal (base 8), decimal (base 10), and hexadecimal (base 16). Enter a number in any base and the tool returns all four representations instantly — no manual arithmetic required. It also returns a grouped binary format (4-digit nibbles) and grouped hex (2-digit bytes) for easier reading, the bit length of the value, and whether it is a power of two.

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Side-by-side comparison

Feature	Color Converter	Number Base Converter
Category	conversion	encoding
Primary purpose	Convert colors between HEX, RGB, HSL, and HSV — instantly and in any direction.	Convert numbers between binary, octal, decimal, and hexadecimal.
Inputs	color	input, from_base
Outputs	hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, valid, error	input_normalized, from_base, decimal, binary, octal, hexadecimal, binary_grouped, hex_grouped, bit_length, is_power_of_two

When to use each

Use Color Converter when…

How to convert HEX to RGB for CSS

Convert a HEX colour code from a design file to an rgb() value for use in CSS.

How to convert RGB to HEX

Convert an RGB colour value to a HEX code for use in HTML, CSS, or a design tool.

Use Number Base Converter when…

Binary to Decimal Converter

Convert binary (base 2) number to decimal

Hex to Decimal Converter

Convert hexadecimal to decimal and other bases

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between HSL and HSV?: Both use hue and saturation, but the third channel differs. In HSL, lightness 0 is black and lightness 100 is white — fully saturated colours sit at lightness 50. In HSV, value 0 is black and value 100 is the full colour — to get white you reduce saturation, not value. Design software colour pickers typically use HSV; CSS uses HSL.
Does the tool support alpha / transparency?: Not currently. This converter handles opaque colours only. For RGBA or HSLA, append the alpha channel manually to the CSS output: rgb(255, 102, 0) → rgba(255, 102, 0, 0.5).
What is binary (base 2)?: Binary is the native number system of computers. Every integer is represented using only the digits 0 and 1. Each digit position represents a power of 2: the rightmost is 2^0 (1), then 2^1 (2), 2^2 (4), 2^3 (8), and so on. The decimal number 10 is 1010 in binary (8 + 2).
What is hexadecimal (base 16) and why do developers use it?: Hexadecimal uses 16 digits: 0–9 and A–F. Developers prefer hex because it maps cleanly to binary: each hex digit represents exactly 4 binary digits (a nibble). This makes hex a compact way to express binary values — the 8-bit byte 11111111 is simply FF in hex, and 32-bit memory addresses fit in 8 hex characters. CSS color values (#FF6600), file magic bytes, and network masks are all commonly expressed in hex.