What's this color called? What RAL is it?
Nearest named color - paste any HEX, the tool finds the closest matching colors:
CSS named (mediumslateblue, crimson, ...) - useful for web design.
RAL Classic (industrial paint codes for doors, windows, signage) - for DIY, signage, print shops.
Ranked by ΔE 2000 (perceptual metric - 1.0 = invisible difference, 5.0 = clearly different).
Perfect for "what's this color called", branding, house painting, signage.
How to use it
- Paste a HEX, use the native picker or the screen eyedropper (Chrome/Edge).
- On the left: top-5 closest CSS named colors (~120 names) - for CSS / web design.
- On the right: top-5 closest RAL Classic codes (~35 most popular) - for paint, signage, industrial print.
- Each match has ΔE - <1 perfect, 1-3 good, >5 clearly different.
- Click to copy the name.
When this is useful
Where name lookups pay off - typical scenarios:
- Branding - you got brand color #7b3aed, want to know what to call it - "ah, blueviolet" (CSS) or "RAL 4008 Signal violet".
- Web dev - instead of HEX, use a CSS name when there's an exact match - less code, more readable ("color: rebeccapurple" instead of "#663399").
- DIY / painting - want to buy paint matching a piece of furniture - paste HEX, get a RAL code.
- Signage / vinyl cutting - print shops work in RAL / Pantone - HEX → RAL eases the conversation.
- Education - notice that "indigo" in CSS is NOT perceptually indigo - native CSS names are often misleading, ΔE shows the gap.
Questions and answers
The industry-standard perceptual distance metric between two colors in Lab space. ΔE < 1 = identical to a trained eye. ΔE 1-3 = slightly noticeable. ΔE > 5 = clearly different. ΔE 2000 (the 2000 version) differs from ΔE 1976/1994 - better corrects for blues and near-grays.