About the RGB to Pantone Converter
Colours picked out of a screenshot, a logo file or an eyedropper arrive as RGB triples, and turning one of those into a printable spot ink is the first step of most brand audits. Drop the triples in, one per line, and each is measured against a Pantone Solid Coated table to find the nearest entry. Wrapped rgb() values and bare comma separated numbers are both accepted.
Distance is measured in CIELAB space. Comparing raw RGB numbers would treat every unit as equal, which badly misjudges dark colours and greens, so both your colour and every candidate are converted to Lab first and the winner is whichever sits closest. The reported figure is that Lab distance, commonly written delta E.
Two habits make the results more trustworthy. First, sample the colour from a flat area of the original artwork rather than from a JPEG gradient or an anti aliased edge, since compression shifts pixels enough to change the match. Second, when several references score within a point of each other, ask the printer which of them they stock, because availability decides as often as accuracy does. For a HEX starting point use HEX to Pantone, and Pantone to RGB returns from a code to screen values.
How to use
- Paste RGB values, one colour per line.
- Press Match to see the nearest Pantone swatch for each.
- Compare the two swatches on a calibrated screen.
- Ask your printer to confirm the ink is in stock.
Common questions
- Should I sample the colour from a photo?
- Avoid it where you can. Compression and lighting shift the pixels, so sample from vector artwork or a flat fill instead.
- Why does the tool measure in Lab rather than RGB?
- Equal steps in RGB are not equal to the eye, so an RGB distance would pick matches that clearly look wrong.
- Can I paste values without the rgb() wrapper?
- Yes, a bare triple such as 120, 190, 32 is read the same way.
- Does the tool cover uncoated Pantone stock?
- The table holds coated approximations. Uncoated paper absorbs more ink, so ask for the matching U reference.