Which palette formats are supported?

Four: `.gpl` (GIMP), `.aco` (Photoshop), `.ase` (Adobe Swatch Exchange), and `.act` (Adobe Color Table). All four both import and export, so any pair converts in either direction. `.sketchpalette`, macOS `.clr`, and Procreate's `.swatches` are not supported.

How does extraction work, and how many colors?

16 colors, by median-cut quantization: every color in the image goes into one box, the box is split at the median along whichever channel spans widest, repeatedly, until there are 16 boxes, and each box contributes its mean as a representative color. Transparent pixels are skipped, so an image with a transparent background won’t get black as one of its main colors. The Swatches panel won't extract more than that: Image > Mode > Indexed Color can reduce the whole image to a chosen number of colors (up to 256), but it changes the image itself — flattening it to one layer (undoable) — and adds nothing to Swatches.

Which colour values does the Color panel show?

In the color panel, a dropdown at the top right switches between six modes — RGB, HSB, CMYK, Lab, Grayscale and Web — one at a time, so you switch to the one you need and read it straight off without converting it yourself; below it, the current colour's (foreground or background) hex value is always shown. Click a swatch to set the foreground colour, Alt-click for the background, and right-click any swatch you added to remove it.

Is it free? Will my swatches be lost?

Free, no sign-up, no usage limit. Swatches live in your own browser's local storage and are still there next time — but clearing browser data clears them too, so export anything important as a `.gpl` and keep it.

Palettes · pull colors from an image, convert between four formats

Extract 16 colors, convert .gpl/.aco/.ase/.act. Processed locally; nothing uploaded while signed out.

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A colour scheme is the first thing anyone notices and the hardest thing to invent from nothing. Rather than picking by feel off a colour wheel, take the colours out of an image you already like — a poster, a film still, someone's portfolio page: that combination has already been tested by somebody.

Open Window > Swatches. The eyedropper button on the panel pulls a palette out of the current image, taking up to 16 colors into your swatches (colors already in your swatches aren't added twice) via median-cut quantization (the color space is split repeatedly along whichever channel spans widest, and each box contributes its mean). Transparent pixels are skipped, so an image on a transparent background will not hand you "black" as a dominant color. The other half is format conversion: import reads `.gpl`, `.aco`, `.ase`, and `.act`, and export writes the same four — which means a Photoshop `.aco` becomes a GIMP `.gpl`, an Adobe `.ase` becomes an `.act`, and back again, so switching tools does not mean re-picking every color by hand. Swatches live in your browser and are still there next time you open the tab. In use: click sets the foreground color, Alt-click sets the background, and right-clicking a color you added removes it. In the color panel, a dropdown at the top right switches between six modes — RGB, HSB, CMYK, Lab, grayscale, and web — one at a time, and below it the current color's (foreground or background) hex value is always shown, so you switch to the one you need and read the value straight off without converting it yourself. It all runs in your own browser (once you sign in, your work is saved automatically to your own cloud projects).

Key features

Pull 16 colors from an image

Median-cut quantization, transparent pixels skipped, straight into your swatches.

Four formats, any direction

.gpl, .aco, .ase and .act all import and export — switching tools costs nothing.

Swatches stay local

Kept in your browser and still there next time. No account needed.

Runs locally

Palettes live only in your own browser and are never uploaded. Images aren't uploaded while you're signed out; once you sign in, your work is saved automatically to your own cloud projects.

How to use

1
Open the swatches panel

Window > Swatches.
2
Extract or import

The eyedropper pulls 16 colors from the image; the upload button reads .gpl/.aco/.ase/.act.
3
Use the colors

Click for foreground, Alt-click for background, right-click to remove one you added.
4
Export the format you need

Four buttons on the panel write .gpl, .ase, .aco, and .act.

FAQ

Which palette formats are supported?: Four: `.gpl` (GIMP), `.aco` (Photoshop), `.ase` (Adobe Swatch Exchange), and `.act` (Adobe Color Table). All four both import and export, so any pair converts in either direction. `.sketchpalette`, macOS `.clr`, and Procreate's `.swatches` are not supported.
How does extraction work, and how many colors?: 16 colors, by median-cut quantization: every color in the image goes into one box, the box is split at the median along whichever channel spans widest, repeatedly, until there are 16 boxes, and each box contributes its mean as a representative color. Transparent pixels are skipped, so an image with a transparent background won’t get black as one of its main colors. The Swatches panel won't extract more than that: Image > Mode > Indexed Color can reduce the whole image to a chosen number of colors (up to 256), but it changes the image itself — flattening it to one layer (undoable) — and adds nothing to Swatches.
Which colour values does the Color panel show?: In the color panel, a dropdown at the top right switches between six modes — RGB, HSB, CMYK, Lab, Grayscale and Web — one at a time, so you switch to the one you need and read it straight off without converting it yourself; below it, the current colour's (foreground or background) hex value is always shown. Click a swatch to set the foreground colour, Alt-click for the background, and right-click any swatch you added to remove it.
Is it free? Will my swatches be lost?: Free, no sign-up, no usage limit. Swatches live in your own browser's local storage and are still there next time — but clearing browser data clears them too, so export anything important as a `.gpl` and keep it.

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