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.
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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)