Result
All calculations run locally in your browser: parsing, chart, export. Disconnect the network and the page keeps working.
Facts and limits of this method
| Hue range | 0° to 360° |
|---|---|
| Saturation and value range | 0% to 100% |
| Value formula | V = max(R, G, B) / 255 |
| Saturation formula | S = (max − min) / max, with max = 0 → S = 0 |
When it misleads you
- HSV isn't the only cylindrical model — don't confuse it with the similar but distinct HSL model (hue is defined the same way in both, but saturation and lightness/value are computed differently).
- At very dark colors (value near 0%) hue and saturation become nearly meaningless — visually different hue values can look like the same near-black color.
- At zero saturation (shades of gray, including black and white) hue is mathematically undefined — the converter shows 0° in this case.
- The result is just another coordinate system for the same color, not a different color space — it carries no screen color-profile information.
How it is calculated
R, G and B values are normalized by dividing by 255, giving numbers from 0 to 1.
Value (V) is the maximum of the normalized R, G, B.
Saturation (S) is computed as the ratio of the difference between the max and min channel to the max (with max equal to zero, saturation is taken as zero).
Hue (H) is computed based on which of R, G or B is the maximum, using a piecewise formula that gives a value from 0° to 360°.
Questions and answers
How is HSV different from HSL?
Hue is defined the same way in both models, but saturation and lightness/value use different formulas, so identical S and L (or V) percentages in HSL and HSV produce different colors.
Why does it show a hue of 0° when S=0% and the color is gray?
Hue is mathematically undefined for shades of gray, so 0° is used by convention — it has no effect on how the gray color is perceived.
Can I use HSV directly in CSS?
Modern CSS doesn't support an hsv() function directly — for use in styles it's more convenient to convert the result to HSL or HEX/RGB with a separate converter.
Is my data sent anywhere?
No, the whole calculation runs in your browser.