Curious to know what color is used in an application’s user interface or building a palette from a picture? You don’t have to guess or upload screenshots to web-based tools. Find out here how to pick and identify the pixel of any color on the screen with Linux ⤓ using Gnome Eyedropper or KDE KColorChooser.
First, Red, Red Stain
Lycopene is a marvelous antioxidant, a chemically stable molecule that loves to mix with oils — and the color that lets tomatoes shine so brightly red. Plastic food containers are made from oil, contain stable molecules — and still get porous when you heat them.
Can you see the problem? You might be looking at it right now… in your dishwasher or microwave: put tomato sauce in a hot food container, and the lycopene will readily migrate into the plastic for that characteristic lycopene stain.
Curious what color value your newly colored plastic dish is precisely? Linux can provide:
How to Pick a Pixel’s Color on the Screen with Linux
Using Eyedropper (If You Use Gnome)
Time needed: 2 minutes
To pick the color of any pixel on the screen using the Eyedropper tool for Gnome Linux:
- Open Eyedropper.
Here’s how: Press the Super key (Windows or Command, for example), then search for Eyedropper.
Getting Eyedropper: You can find and install Eyedropper on Flathub. - Click the Pick a Color eyedropper icon in Eyedropper.
- Move the eyedropper so the desired pixel’s color appears highlighted in its small magnifying area.
- Click to select the color.
- Use the copying button next to the color code you want to copy.
Color formats: Select Settings from the hamburger menu button to choose the color formats available for copying.
Night light: Eyedropper will give you the value as it is displayed on the screen — after color management and tools like Night Light have potentially changed it; to avoid Night Light from interfering, disable it temporarily.
Found a pot of HSL(50.6°, 100%, 50%)?
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Using KColorChooser (If You Use KDE)
To identify the color of a pixel on your screen using KDE KColorChooser:
- Open KColorChooser.
Here’s how: Find KColorChooser in the application launcher menu, for example. - Click Pick Screen Color.
- Now click the pixel whose color you want to identify.
- Find the corresponding HEX color value under HTML:.
Night Light: KColorChooser returns the color as it is displayed on the screen. Color management — most typically Night Light tinting for warmer colors — will influence it; to prevent Night Light from affecting the color picker, toggle it off temporarily.
In a browser: How to Identify Website Colors with the Firefox Eyedropper
On a Mac: How to Identify Any Pixel’s Screen Color with the Mac Color Picker
How to Pick a Screen Pixel’s Color on Linux: FAQ
What color picker can I use without Gnome or KDE?
Outside the tools made for Gnome and KDE, you can identify colors on Linux X/Wayland using:
- Gpick — Comprehensive palette tool for X11
- hyprpicker — Functional color picker for Wayland
- GIMP — Image editing program with an eyedropper; global screen picking depends on system support
Can I also identify colors in a terminal window?
Yes.
Both Eyedropper and KColorChooser will also pick colors in terminal windows. This does not work for systems running full-screen terminals, of course, without a windowing environment.
What do the color values mean?
Colors can be described as a combination of other, basic colors. RGB shows the mix of red, green and blue, for example, and CMYK combines cyan, magenta, yellow and black. HSL employs a color wheel to specify the color itself plus vibrancy and brightness to pick the specific hue.
(Tested with Gnome 50 and KDE Plasma 6; first published May 2026)