How to use the Pantone / RAL to HEX Converter
- Look up a RAL code. Type a number such as
7016, a word such asanthracite, or narrow the table with the group buttons from 1000 Yellow & beige to 9000 White & black. Each row shows the swatch, name, HEX and RGB, with HEX and RGB buttons to copy either value. - Go the other way: HEX to RAL. Type or paste a HEX code into the same box, or click the color square to pick one. The five closest RAL Classic colors appear beside the search box, ranked by ΔE 2000, the standard measure of visible color difference. Click a name to jump to its row.
- Check the Pantone Color of the Year. Open the Pantone Color of the Year tab for every pick since 2000 with its Pantone code, an approximate HEX and the nearest RAL color.
- Share a lookup. Your search, group and tab are kept in the page address, so a copied link opens the same view.
Why a RAL color has no single “true” HEX
RAL and Pantone are physical standards: printed or painted samples, measured under defined lighting. A HEX code describes something different — a mix of red, green and blue light on a screen in the sRGB color space. Converting one to the other means measuring the physical sample and finding the nearest screen color, and published lists differ by a few units depending on who measured what. The values here follow the widely used published set; treat them as good screen stand-ins, not as a spec.
Two groups deserve extra caution, and the table tags them:
- Fluorescent colors such as RAL 1026 Luminous yellow and RAL 3024 Luminous red glow under daylight. A monitor can’t show that, so their HEX values (
#FFFF00and#F70000) are only the nearest flat color. - Pearl and metallic colors — RAL 9006 White aluminium, RAL 9022 Pearl light grey and the other “Pearl” names — change with viewing angle. One HEX value can only capture a single angle under a single light.
How RAL numbers are organized
Every RAL Classic code has four digits, and the first one tells you the color family. The converter lists 217 colors from RAL 1000 to RAL 9023:
| Group | Family | Colors listed | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1000s | Yellow and beige | 30 | RAL 1023 Traffic yellow #F7B500 |
| 2000s | Orange | 14 | RAL 2004 Pure orange #E75B12 |
| 3000s | Red | 25 | RAL 3020 Traffic red #C1121C |
| 4000s | Violet | 12 | RAL 4005 Blue lilac #83639D |
| 5000s | Blue | 25 | RAL 5015 Sky blue #2874B2 |
| 6000s | Green | 38 | RAL 6005 Moss green #0F4336 |
| 7000s | Grey | 38 | RAL 7016 Anthracite grey #373F43 |
| 8000s | Brown | 20 | RAL 8017 Chocolate brown #44322D |
| 9000s | White and black | 15 | RAL 9010 Pure white #F7F9EF |
The numbers within a group are not in color order — RAL 7016 is a deep charcoal while RAL 7035 Light grey #CBD0CC is a pale, almost-white grey. If you need “a slightly lighter version”, search by HEX rather than counting up.
What about Pantone?
Pantone’s systems — the Matching System used in print, with codes like 186 C for coated paper, and the Fashion, Home + Interiors system, with codes like 19-4052 TCX for cotton — are licensed products, and their full color data is not freely published. Shipping guessed values for thousands of them would be worse than useless, so this converter includes only the Color of the Year selections, which Pantone announces publicly each December with a screen value.
Several of them have a close RAL cousin: 2020’s Classic Blue lands at ΔE 2.0 from RAL 5017 Traffic blue, and both 2021 picks sit within ΔE 1.6 of a RAL color — Ultimate Gray near RAL 7045 Telegrey 1, Illuminating near RAL 1016 Sulfur yellow. Others have nothing nearby: 2000’s Cerulean is ΔE 11.8 from its closest match.
Tips from practice
Always order a physical sample. If a client says “RAL 6005 for the gates,” get the painter’s or powder coater’s actual chip and photograph it next to your artwork. Never sign off a color from a screen alone.
Specify the finish as well as the code. The same RAL color looks darker and richer in gloss than in matte. Put both in writing, for example “RAL 9005, matte”.
Quote the number and the name. “RAL 5015 Sky blue” survives a typo that “RAL 5051” would not — there is no RAL 5051, and a supplier will notice the mismatch.
Don’t confuse RAL Classic with RAL Design. The RAL Design System uses seven-digit codes such as RAL 210 50 15, built from hue, lightness and chroma. Those are a different collection and are not in this table.
Pick from a real reference when matching existing work. To match a mural or sign that’s already painted, photograph it in even daylight and sample it with the Image to Palette Extractor, then search that HEX here.