Color Temperature Converter

Convert Kelvin (1000 K – 12000 K) to RGB and hex — from warm candlelight to cool daylight.

Color temperature: 6,500 KCool / daylight

1000 K (candle)12000 K (blue sky)

HEX

#FFFEFA

RGB

rgb(255, 254, 250)

R / G / B

255 / 254 / 250

Common presets

What color temperature means

Color temperature describes the hue of a light source measured in Kelvin (K). Lower Kelvin values (1800–3000 K) appear warm/orange-yellow like candlelight or incandescent bulbs. Higher values (5500–12000 K) appear cool/blue-white like daylight or overcast sky. The conversion uses Mitchell's algorithm — a well-known approximation of the Planckian locus that matches real-world measured values within ~2%.

Use cases: choosing LED bulbs, white-balance photography, and matching screen color profiles. For design use, see Color Converter and Color Palette Generator.

Built and maintained by Meet Shah · Last updated 19 July 2026

What this tool is used for

Getting an RGB approximation of a Kelvin value.
Choosing a warm or cool tint to match a lighting condition.
Understanding what a bulb's stated temperature looks like.
Comparing candlelight against daylight values side by side.
Producing a tint for a render or a design.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is warm light a low temperature?: Because the scale is the physical temperature of a glowing black body, and cooler bodies glow red-orange while hotter ones glow blue-white. The colloquial sense of warm and cool is the exact inverse, which is why the numbering surprises everyone at first.
What are the reference points?: Candlelight around 1900K, incandescent 2700K, warm-white LED 3000K, neutral 4000K, direct sunlight 5500K, overcast daylight 6500K, blue sky up to 10000K. D65 at 6504K is the white point sRGB is defined against.
What is mired and why is it used?: One million divided by the kelvin value. It exists because equal mired steps are roughly equal perceptual steps, while equal kelvin steps are not — a 500K change is dramatic at 2500K and invisible at 9000K. Photographic filters are graded in mireds for that reason.
How does this relate to white balance?: White balance applies the inverse shift of the light source's temperature, so a neutral surface records as neutral. Setting it to a lower temperature than the actual light makes the image cooler, which is why the control feels backwards until you know what it is compensating for.
Does temperature describe every light source?: Only sources close to a black-body curve. Fluorescent and some LEDs have spiky spectra that no single temperature describes, which is why they are quoted with a correlated colour temperature plus a colour rendering index — the CCT alone hides how badly they render some colours.

Common errors and gotchas

Assuming a higher Kelvin means warmer, when it is the reverse of the everyday sense of the word.
Confusing correlated colour temperature with a colour, since many spectra share one value.
Using the RGB output as a real spectrum, which it is not.
Applying a screen approximation to a colour-critical photography or print decision.
Treating the Kelvin scale as linear in appearance, when the visible change is far larger at the warm end.