HSL to RGB color conversion

Question

I am looking for a JavaScript / PHP algorithm to convert between HSL color to RGB.

It seems to me that HSL is not very widely used so I am not having much luck search

Answer 1

I got this from Brandon Mathis' HSL Picker source code.

It was originally written in CoffeeScript. I converted it to JavaScript using an online converter, and took out the mechanism to verify the user input was a valid RGB value. This answer worked for my usecase, as the most up-voted answer on this post I found to not produce a valid HSL value.

Note that it returns an hsla value, with a representing opacity/transparency. 0 is completely transparent, and 1 fully opaque.

function rgbToHsl(rgb) {
  var a, add, b, diff, g, h, hue, l, lum, max, min, r, s, sat;
  r = parseFloat(rgb[0]) / 255;
  g = parseFloat(rgb[1]) / 255;
  b = parseFloat(rgb[2]) / 255;
  max = Math.max(r, g, b);
  min = Math.min(r, g, b);
  diff = max - min;
  add = max + min;
  hue = min === max ? 0 : r === max ? ((60 * (g - b) / diff) + 360) % 360 : g === max ? (60 * (b - r) / diff) + 120 : (60 * (r - g) / diff) + 240;
  lum = 0.5 * add;
  sat = lum === 0 ? 0 : lum === 1 ? 1 : lum <= 0.5 ? diff / add : diff / (2 - add);
  h = Math.round(hue);
  s = Math.round(sat * 100);
  l = Math.round(lum * 100);
  a = parseFloat(rgb[3]) || 1;
  return [h, s, l, a];
}

Answer 2

An hsl|a color value, set in javascript, will be instantly converted to rgb|a All you need to do then is access the computed style value

document.body.style.color = 'hsla(44, 100%, 50%, 0.8)';

console.log(window.getComputedStyle(document.body).color);

// displays: rgba(255, 187, 0, 0.8)

Technically, I guess, this isn't even any lines of code - it's just done automatically. So, depending on your environment, you might be able to get away with just this. Not that there aren't a lot of very thoughtful responses here. I don't know what your goal is.

Now, what if you want to convert from rbg|a to hsl|a?

Answer 3

Shortest but precise - JS

Use this JS code (more: rgb2hsl, hsv2rgb rgb2hsv and hsl2hsv) - php here

// input: h in [0,360] and s,v in [0,1] - output: r,g,b in [0,1]
function hsl2rgb(h,s,l) 
{
  let a=s*Math.min(l,1-l);
  let f= (n,k=(n+h/30)%12) => l - a*Math.max(Math.min(k-3,9-k,1),-1);                 
  return [f(0),f(8),f(4)];
}   

// oneliner version
let hsl2rgb = (h,s,l, a=s*Math.min(l,1-l), f= (n,k=(n+h/30)%12) => l - a*Math.max(Math.min(k-3,9-k,1),-1)) => [f(0),f(8),f(4)];

// r,g,b are in [0-1], result e.g. #0812fa.
let rgb2hex = (r,g,b) => "#" + [r,g,b].map(x=>Math.round(x*255).toString(16).padStart(2,0) ).join('');


console.log(`hsl: (30,0.2,0.3) --> rgb: (${hsl2rgb(30,0.2,0.3)}) --> hex: ${rgb2hex(...hsl2rgb(30,0.2,0.3))}`);



// ---------------
// UX
// ---------------

rgb= [0,0,0];
hs= [0,0,0];

let $ = x => document.querySelector(x);

function changeRGB(i,e) {
  rgb[i]=e.target.value/255;
  hs = rgb2hsl(...rgb);
  refresh();
}

function changeHS(i,e) {
  hs[i]=e.target.value/(i?255:1);
  rgb= hsl2rgb(...hs);
  refresh();
}

function refresh() {
  rr = rgb.map(x=>x*255|0).join(', ')
  hh = rgb2hex(...rgb);
  tr = `RGB: ${rr}`
  th = `HSL: ${hs.map((x,i)=>i? (x*100).toFixed(2)+'%':x|0).join(', ')}`
  thh= `HEX: ${hh}`
  $('.box').style.backgroundColor=`rgb(${rr})`;  
  $('.infoRGB').innerHTML=`${tr}`;  
  $('.infoHS').innerHTML =`${th}\n${thh}`;  
  
  $('#r').value=rgb[0]*255;
  $('#g').value=rgb[1]*255;
  $('#b').value=rgb[2]*255;
  
  $('#h').value=hs[0];
  $('#s').value=hs[1]*255;
  $('#l').value=hs[2]*255;  
}

function rgb2hsl(r,g,b) {
  let a=Math.max(r,g,b), n=a-Math.min(r,g,b), f=(1-Math.abs(a+a-n-1)); 
  let h= n && ((a==r) ? (g-b)/n : ((a==g) ? 2+(b-r)/n : 4+(r-g)/n)); 
  return [60*(h<0?h+6:h), f ? n/f : 0, (a+a-n)/2];
}

refresh();

.box {
  width: 50px;
  height: 50px;
  margin: 20px;
}

body {
    display: flex;
}

<div>
<input id="r" type="range" min="0" max="255" oninput="changeRGB(0,event)">R<br>
<input id="g" type="range" min="0" max="255" oninput="changeRGB(1,event)">G<br>
<input id="b" type="range" min="0" max="255" oninput="changeRGB(2,event)">B<br>
<pre class="infoRGB"></pre>
</div> 

<div>
<div class="box hsl"></div>

</div>

<div>
<input id="h" type="range" min="0" max="360" oninput="changeHS(0,event)">H<br>
<input id="s" type="range" min="0" max="255" oninput="changeHS(1,event)">S<br>
<input id="l" type="range" min="0" max="255" oninput="changeHS(2,event)">L<br>
<pre class="infoHS"></pre><br>
</div>

Here is formula which I discover and precisely describe in wiki + error analysis,

Answer 4

Here's a fast, super-simple, branchless version in GLSL:

vec3 hsl2rgb( vec3 c ) {
    vec3 rgb = clamp(abs(mod(c.x*6.0 + vec3(0.0, 4.0, 2.0), 6.0)-3.0)-1.0, 0.0, 1.0);
    return c.z + c.y * (rgb-0.5)*(1.0-abs(2.0*c.z-1.0));
}

Doesn't get much shorter than that ~

---

Link to the original proof-of-concept: https://www.shadertoy.com/view/XljGzV

(Disclaimer: not my code!)

Answer 5

Garry Tan posted a Javascript solution on his blog (which he attributes to a now defunct mjijackson.com, but is archived here and the original author has a gist - thanks to user2441511).

The code is re-posted below:

HSL to RGB:

/**
 * Converts an HSL color value to RGB. Conversion formula
 * adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_color_space.
 * Assumes h, s, and l are contained in the set [0, 1] and
 * returns r, g, and b in the set [0, 255].
 *
 * @param   {number}  h       The hue
 * @param   {number}  s       The saturation
 * @param   {number}  l       The lightness
 * @return  {Array}           The RGB representation
 */
function hslToRgb(h, s, l){
    var r, g, b;

    if(s == 0){
        r = g = b = l; // achromatic
    }else{
        var hue2rgb = function hue2rgb(p, q, t){
            if(t < 0) t += 1;
            if(t > 1) t -= 1;
            if(t < 1/6) return p + (q - p) * 6 * t;
            if(t < 1/2) return q;
            if(t < 2/3) return p + (q - p) * (2/3 - t) * 6;
            return p;
        }

        var q = l < 0.5 ? l * (1 + s) : l + s - l * s;
        var p = 2 * l - q;
        r = hue2rgb(p, q, h + 1/3);
        g = hue2rgb(p, q, h);
        b = hue2rgb(p, q, h - 1/3);
    }

    return [Math.round(r * 255), Math.round(g * 255), Math.round(b * 255)];
}

RGB to HSL:

/**
 * Converts an RGB color value to HSL. Conversion formula
 * adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_color_space.
 * Assumes r, g, and b are contained in the set [0, 255] and
 * returns h, s, and l in the set [0, 1].
 *
 * @param   {number}  r       The red color value
 * @param   {number}  g       The green color value
 * @param   {number}  b       The blue color value
 * @return  {Array}           The HSL representation
 */
function rgbToHsl(r, g, b){
    r /= 255, g /= 255, b /= 255;
    var max = Math.max(r, g, b), min = Math.min(r, g, b);
    var h, s, l = (max + min) / 2;

    if(max == min){
        h = s = 0; // achromatic
    }else{
        var d = max - min;
        s = l > 0.5 ? d / (2 - max - min) : d / (max + min);
        switch(max){
            case r: h = (g - b) / d + (g < b ? 6 : 0); break;
            case g: h = (b - r) / d + 2; break;
            case b: h = (r - g) / d + 4; break;
        }
        h /= 6;
    }

    return [h, s, l];
}

Answer 6

PHP implementation of @Mohsen's code (including Test!)

Sorry to re-post this. But I really haven't seen any other implementation that gives the quality I needed.

/**
 * Converts an HSL color value to RGB. Conversion formula
 * adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_color_space.
 * Assumes h, s, and l are contained in the set [0, 1] and
 * returns r, g, and b in the set [0, 255].
 *
 * @param   {number}  h       The hue
 * @param   {number}  s       The saturation
 * @param   {number}  l       The lightness
 * @return  {Array}           The RGB representation
 */
  
function hue2rgb($p, $q, $t){
            if($t < 0) $t += 1;
            if($t > 1) $t -= 1;
            if($t < 1/6) return $p + ($q - $p) * 6 * $t;
            if($t < 1/2) return $q;
            if($t < 2/3) return $p + ($q - $p) * (2/3 - $t) * 6;
            return $p;
        }
function hslToRgb($h, $s, $l){
    if($s == 0){
        $r = $l;
        $g = $l;
        $b = $l; // achromatic
    }else{
        $q = $l < 0.5 ? $l * (1 + $s) : $l + $s - $l * $s;
        $p = 2 * $l - $q;
        $r = hue2rgb($p, $q, $h + 1/3);
        $g = hue2rgb($p, $q, $h);
        $b = hue2rgb($p, $q, $h - 1/3);
    }

    return array(round($r * 255), round($g * 255), round($b * 255));
}

/* Uncomment to test * /
for ($i=0;$i<360;$i++) {
  $rgb=hslToRgb($i/360, 1, .9);
  echo '<div style="background-color:rgb(' .$rgb[0] . ', ' . $rgb[1] . ', ' . $rgb[2] . ');padding:2px;"></div>';
}
/* End Test */