HEX#3B82F6
RGBrgb(59, 130, 246)
HSLhsl(217, 91%, 60%)
Three ways of writing the same colour
HEX and RGB are the same numbers in different clothes — six hex digits are three bytes. HSL is a different arrangement of the same space: hue as an angle, saturation and lightness as percentages. Nothing is lost converting between them.
HSL is the one you can reason about
To make a colour lighter in RGB you have to nudge three numbers and hope. In HSL you raise L. That is why design systems tend to define palettes in HSL and ship them as HEX.
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Frequently asked questions
Q. Why does my HEX have eight digits?
The last two are alpha — opacity from 00 to FF. This converter works with the six-digit opaque form.
Q. Is #FFF the same as #FFFFFF?
Yes. The three-digit form doubles each digit, so #FFF expands to #FFFFFF and #1A2 to #11AA22.
Q. Why does HSL lightness 50% not look mid-grey?
Because HSL lightness is arithmetic, not perceptual. Yellow at 50% looks far brighter than blue at 50%. For perceptual work, look at LCH or OKLCH.