CMYK to RGB

Do you need to convert a color from CMYK to RGB or RGB to CMYK? Below you will find several converters as well as the formulas to switch from one color model to another manually.

CMYK to RGB converter

Enjoy our CMYK to RGB color converter and calculates the equivalence between the two formats without resorting to programs such as Photoshop.

Simply enter the values for the color cyan, magenta, yellow and black (between 0 and 1). Once you have completed the levels for each one of them, click on the convert button and you will get the equivalence in RGB format.

If you have the CMYK color expressed in percentage format, you simply divide each value by 100.

RGB to CMYK converter

RGB to CMYK converter to obtain the equivalence between these two color models so widely used in photography and video.

The way to use this tool is very simple. You just have to enter the red, green and blue color levels (remember that their range goes from 0 to 255) and press the convert button. This will give you the equivalence between RGB and CMYK and a preview of the chosen color.

Formula to convert from CMYK to RGB

There is a way to manually convert CMYK color to RGB color. Next we are going to see the formula to use for red (R), green (G) and blue (B):

The red color is calculated from the value of cyan (C) and black (K):

R = 255 × (1-C) × (1-K)

The green color is obtained from magenta (M) and black (K):

G = 255 × (1-M) × (1-K)

Finally, the blue color is calculated by taking into account the intensity of yellow (Y) and black (K):

B = 255 × (1-Y) × (1-K)

You simply have to substitute each CMYK color value in the formula and calculate the result. The range of colors in RGB goes from 0 to 255, so outside those values you probably made a mistake when operating.

How to convert from RGB to CMYK

The process of convert RGB color to CMYK involves several operations. The first one consists of dividing each value (R, G and B) by 255, that is:

R‘ = R/255

G‘ = G/255

B' = B/255

Now that we have the new values for R', G' B', let's calculate the value of black (K). For this, we will keep the minimum value resulting from the following operation:

Black (K) = Minimum value(1-R ,1-G, 1-B)

With the black already calculated, we can obtain the rest of the values of the CMYK color space we are missing:

Cyan (C) = (1-R'-K) / (1-K)

Magenta (M) = (1-G'-K) / (1-K)

Yellow (Y) = (1-B'-K) / (1-K)

How to switch from CMYK to RGB in Photoshop

If you want to convert an image with RGB color space to CMYK or vice versa, in Photoshop you have to go to the top menu, select the Image > Mode option and select the color space you want to work with.

CMYK to RGB Equivalency Chart

Finally, we leave you a CMYK and RGB color chart to know the equivalence of the most common shades in the different color spaces: