TinyColor

JavaScript color tooling

TinyColor is a small, fast library for color manipulation and conversion in JavaScript. It allows many forms of input, while providing color conversions and other color utility functions. It has no dependencies.

Including in node

tinycolor can be installed from npm:

npm install tinycolor2

Then it can be used in your script like so:

var tinycolor = require("tinycolor2");
var color = tinycolor("red");

Or in a module like so:

import tinycolor from "tinycolor2";
var color = tinycolor("red");

Including in a browser

The package can be bundled from npm, but if you prefer to download it locally you have two choices:

ESM

It can be used as a module by downloading npm/esm/tinycolor.js or using https://esm.sh/tinycolor2.

<script type='module'>
import tinycolor from "https://esm.sh/tinycolor2";
var color = tinycolor("red");
</script>

UMD

You can use it directly in a script tag by downloading the UMD file from npm/cjs/tinycolor.js:

<script type='text/javascript' src='tinycolor.js'></script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var color = tinycolor("red");
</script>

Usage

Call tinycolor(input) or new tinycolor(input), and you will have an object with the following properties. See Accepted String Input and Accepted Object Input below for more information about what is accepted.

Accepted String Input

The string parsing is very permissive. It is meant to make typing a color as input as easy as possible. All commas, percentages, parenthesis are optional, and most input allow either 0-1, 0%-100%, or 0-n (where n is either 100, 255, or 360 depending on the value).

HSL and HSV both require either 0%-100% or 0-1 for the S/L/V properties. The H (hue) can have values between 0%-100% or 0-360.

RGB input requires either 0-255 or 0%-100%.

If you call tinycolor.fromRatio, RGB and Hue input can also accept 0-1.

Here are some examples of string input:

Hex, 8-digit (RGBA) Hex

tinycolor("#000");
tinycolor("000");
tinycolor("#369C");
tinycolor("369C");
tinycolor("#f0f0f6");
tinycolor("f0f0f6");
tinycolor("#f0f0f688");
tinycolor("f0f0f688");

RGB, RGBA

tinycolor("rgb (255, 0, 0)");
tinycolor("rgb 255 0 0");
tinycolor("rgba (255, 0, 0, .5)");
tinycolor({ r: 255, g: 0, b: 0 });
tinycolor.fromRatio({ r: 1, g: 0, b: 0 });
tinycolor.fromRatio({ r: .5, g: .5, b: .5 });

HSL, HSLA

tinycolor("hsl(0, 100%, 50%)");
tinycolor("hsla(0, 100%, 50%, .5)");
tinycolor("hsl(0, 100%, 50%)");
tinycolor("hsl 0 1.0 0.5");
tinycolor({ h: 0, s: 1, l: .5 });
tinycolor.fromRatio({ h: 1, s: 0, l: 0 });
tinycolor.fromRatio({ h: .5, s: .5, l: .5 });

HSV, HSVA

tinycolor("hsv(0, 100%, 100%)");
tinycolor("hsva(0, 100%, 100%, .5)");
tinycolor("hsv (0 100% 100%)");
tinycolor("hsv 0 1 1");
tinycolor({ h: 0, s: 100, v: 100 });
tinycolor.fromRatio({ h: 1, s: 0, v: 0 });
tinycolor.fromRatio({ h: .5, s: .5, v: .5 });

Named

Case insenstive names are accepted, using the list of colors in the CSS spec.

tinycolor("RED");
tinycolor("blanchedalmond");
tinycolor("darkblue");

Accepted Object Input

If you are calling this from code, you may want to use object input. Here are some examples of the different types of accepted object inputs:

{ r: 255, g: 0, b: 0 }
{ r: 255, g: 0, b: 0, a: .5 }
{ h: 0, s: 100, l: 50 }
{ h: 0, s: 100, v: 100 }

Methods

getFormat

Returns the format used to create the tinycolor instance

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.getFormat(); // "name"
color = tinycolor({r:255, g:255, b:255});
color.getFormat(); // "rgb"

getOriginalInput

Returns the input passed into the constructor used to create the tinycolor instance

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.getOriginalInput(); // "red"
color = tinycolor({r:255, g:255, b:255});
color.getOriginalInput(); // "{r: 255, g: 255, b: 255}"

isValid

Return a boolean indicating whether the color was successfully parsed. Note: if the color is not valid then it will act like black when being used with other methods.

var color1 = tinycolor("red");
color1.isValid(); // true
color1.toHexString(); // "#ff0000"

var color2 = tinycolor("not a color");
color2.isValid(); // false
color2.toString(); // "#000000"

getBrightness

Returns the perceived brightness of a color, from 0-255, as defined by Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Version 1.0).

var color1 = tinycolor("#fff");
color1.getBrightness(); // 255

var color2 = tinycolor("#000");
color2.getBrightness(); // 0

isLight

Return a boolean indicating whether the color's perceived brightness is light.

var color1 = tinycolor("#fff");
color1.isLight(); // true

var color2 = tinycolor("#000");
color2.isLight(); // false

isDark

Return a boolean indicating whether the color's perceived brightness is dark.

var color1 = tinycolor("#fff");
color1.isDark(); // false

var color2 = tinycolor("#000");
color2.isDark(); // true

getLuminance

Returns the perceived luminance of a color, from 0-1 as defined by Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Version 2.0).

var color1 = tinycolor("#fff");
color1.getLuminance(); // 1

var color2 = tinycolor("#000");
color2.getLuminance(); // 0

getAlpha

Returns the alpha value of a color, from 0-1.

var color1 = tinycolor("rgba(255, 0, 0, .5)");
color1.getAlpha(); // 0.5

var color2 = tinycolor("rgb(255, 0, 0)");
color2.getAlpha(); // 1

var color3 = tinycolor("transparent");
color3.getAlpha(); // 0

setAlpha

Sets the alpha value on a current color. Accepted range is in between 0-1.

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.getAlpha(); // 1
color.setAlpha(.5);
color.getAlpha(); // .5
color.toRgbString(); // "rgba(255, 0, 0, .5)"

String Representations

The following methods will return a property for the alpha value, which can be ignored: toHsv, toHsl, toRgb

toHsv

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toHsv(); // { h: 0, s: 1, v: 1, a: 1 }

toHsvString

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toHsvString(); // "hsv(0, 100%, 100%)"
color.setAlpha(0.5);
color.toHsvString(); // "hsva(0, 100%, 100%, 0.5)"

toHsl

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toHsl(); // { h: 0, s: 1, l: 0.5, a: 1 }

toHslString

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toHslString(); // "hsl(0, 100%, 50%)"
color.setAlpha(0.5);
color.toHslString(); // "hsla(0, 100%, 50%, 0.5)"

toHex

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toHex(); // "ff0000"

toHexString

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toHexString(); // "#ff0000"

toHex8

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toHex8(); // "ff0000ff"

toHex8String

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toHex8String(); // "#ff0000ff"

toRgb

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toRgb(); // { r: 255, g: 0, b: 0, a: 1 }

toRgbString

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toRgbString(); // "rgb(255, 0, 0)"
color.setAlpha(0.5);
color.toRgbString(); // "rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.5)"

toPercentageRgb

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toPercentageRgb() // { r: "100%", g: "0%", b: "0%", a: 1 }

toPercentageRgbString

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toPercentageRgbString(); // "rgb(100%, 0%, 0%)"
color.setAlpha(0.5);
color.toPercentageRgbString(); // "rgba(100%, 0%, 0%, 0.5)"

toName

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toName(); // "red"

toFilter

var color = tinycolor("red");
color.toFilter(); // "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr=#ffff0000,endColorstr=#ffff0000)"

toString

Print to a string, depending on the input format. You can also override this by passing one of "rgb", "prgb", "hex6", "hex3", "hex8", "name", "hsl", "hsv" into the function.

var color1 = tinycolor("red");
color1.toString(); // "red"
color1.toString("hsv"); // "hsv(0, 100%, 100%)"

var color2 = tinycolor("rgb(255, 0, 0)");
color2.toString(); // "rgb(255, 0, 0)"
color2.setAlpha(.5);
color2.toString(); // "rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.5)"

Color Modification

These methods manipulate the current color, and return it for chaining. For instance:

tinycolor("red").lighten().desaturate().toHexString() // "#f53d3d"

lighten

lighten: function(amount = 10) -> TinyColor. Lighten the color a given amount, from 0 to 100. Providing 100 will always return white.

tinycolor("#f00").lighten().toString(); // "#ff3333"
tinycolor("#f00").lighten(100).toString(); // "#ffffff"

brighten

brighten: function(amount = 10) -> TinyColor. Brighten the color a given amount, from 0 to 100.

tinycolor("#f00").brighten().toString(); // "#ff1919"

darken

darken: function(amount = 10) -> TinyColor. Darken the color a given amount, from 0 to 100. Providing 100 will always return black.

tinycolor("#f00").darken().toString(); // "#cc0000"
tinycolor("#f00").darken(100).toString(); // "#000000"

desaturate

desaturate: function(amount = 10) -> TinyColor. Desaturate the color a given amount, from 0 to 100. Providing 100 will is the same as calling greyscale.

tinycolor("#f00").desaturate().toString(); // "#f20d0d"
tinycolor("#f00").desaturate(100).toString(); // "#808080"

saturate

saturate: function(amount = 10) -> TinyColor. Saturate the color a given amount, from 0 to 100.

tinycolor("hsl(0, 10%, 50%)").saturate().toString(); // "hsl(0, 20%, 50%)"

greyscale

greyscale: function() -> TinyColor. Completely desaturates a color into greyscale. Same as calling desaturate(100).

tinycolor("#f00").greyscale().toString(); // "#808080"

spin

spin: function(amount = 0) -> TinyColor. Spin the hue a given amount, from -360 to 360. Calling with 0, 360, or -360 will do nothing (since it sets the hue back to what it was before).

tinycolor("#f00").spin(180).toString(); // "#00ffff"
tinycolor("#f00").spin(-90).toString(); // "#7f00ff"
tinycolor("#f00").spin(90).toString(); // "#80ff00"

// spin(0) and spin(360) do nothing
tinycolor("#f00").spin(0).toString(); // "#ff0000"
tinycolor("#f00").spin(360).toString(); // "#ff0000"

Color Combinations

Combination functions return an array of TinyColor objects unless otherwise noted.

analogous

analogous: function(, results = 6, slices = 30) -> array<TinyColor>.

var colors = tinycolor("#f00").analogous();

colors.map(function(t) { return t.toHexString(); }); // [ "#ff0000", "#ff0066", "#ff0033", "#ff0000", "#ff3300", "#ff6600" ]

monochromatic

monochromatic: function(, results = 6) -> array<TinyColor>.

var colors = tinycolor("#f00").monochromatic();

colors.map(function(t) { return t.toHexString(); }); // [ "#ff0000", "#2a0000", "#550000", "#800000", "#aa0000", "#d40000" ]

splitcomplement

splitcomplement: function() -> array<TinyColor>.

var colors = tinycolor("#f00").splitcomplement();

colors.map(function(t) { return t.toHexString(); }); // [ "#ff0000", "#ccff00", "#0066ff" ]

triad

triad: function() -> array<TinyColor>.

var colors = tinycolor("#f00").triad();

colors.map(function(t) { return t.toHexString(); }); // [ "#ff0000", "#00ff00", "#0000ff" ]

tetrad

tetrad: function() -> array<TinyColor>.

var colors = tinycolor("#f00").tetrad();

colors.map(function(t) { return t.toHexString(); }); // [ "#ff0000", "#80ff00", "#00ffff", "#7f00ff" ]

complement

complement: function() -> TinyColor.

tinycolor("#f00").complement().toHexString(); // "#00ffff"

Color Utilities

tinycolor.equals(color1, color2)
tinycolor.mix(color1, color2, amount = 50)

random

Returns a random color.

var color = tinycolor.random();
color.toRgb(); // "{r: 145, g: 40, b: 198, a: 1}"

Readability

TinyColor assesses readability based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Version 2.0).

readability

readability: function(TinyColor, TinyColor) -> Object. Returns the contrast ratio between two colors.

tinycolor.readability("#000", "#000"); // 1
tinycolor.readability("#000", "#111"); // 1.1121078324840545
tinycolor.readability("#000", "#fff"); // 21

Use the values in your own calculations, or use one of the convenience functions below.

isReadable

isReadable: function(TinyColor, TinyColor, Object) -> Boolean. Ensure that foreground and background color combinations meet WCAG guidelines. Object is optional, defaulting to {level: "AA",size: "small"}. level can be "AA" or "AAA" and size can be "small" or "large".

Here are links to read more about the AA and AAA requirements.

tinycolor.isReadable("#000", "#111", {}); // false
tinycolor.isReadable("#ff0088", "#5c1a72",{level:"AA",size:"small"}); //false
tinycolor.isReadable("#ff0088", "#5c1a72",{level:"AA",size:"large"}), //true

mostReadable

mostReadable: function(TinyColor, [TinyColor, Tinycolor ...], Object) -> Boolean. Given a base color and a list of possible foreground or background colors for that base, returns the most readable color. If none of the colors in the list is readable, mostReadable will return the better of black or white if includeFallbackColors:true.

tinycolor.mostReadable("#000", ["#f00", "#0f0", "#00f"]).toHexString(); // "#00ff00"
tinycolor.mostReadable("#123", ["#124", "#125"],{includeFallbackColors:false}).toHexString(); // "#112255"
tinycolor.mostReadable("#123", ["#124", "#125"],{includeFallbackColors:true}).toHexString();  // "#ffffff"
tinycolor.mostReadable("#ff0088", ["#2e0c3a"],{includeFallbackColors:true,level:"AAA",size:"large"}).toHexString()   // "#2e0c3a",
tinycolor.mostReadable("#ff0088", ["#2e0c3a"],{includeFallbackColors:true,level:"AAA",size:"small"}).toHexString()   // "#000000",

See index.html in the project for a demo.

Common operations

clone

clone: function() -> TinyColor. Instantiate a new TinyColor object with the same color. Any changes to the new one won't affect the old one.

var color1 = tinycolor("#F00");
var color2 = color1.clone();
color2.setAlpha(.5);

color1.toString(); // "#ff0000"
color2.toString(); // "rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.5)"