Look up approximate HEX and RGB values for popular Pantone (PMS) colors for screen use.
Design • Pantone
Choose the size you already know and the equivalents in all the other standards appear together, with your source highlighted — so nothing has to be converted twice to be checked.
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Pantone (PMS) is the spot-color system print designers use for exact, repeatable color — but screens display color in HEX and RGB. This chart gives close HEX/RGB approximations for popular Pantone colors so you can mock up designs digitally.
Because Pantone colors are physical inks, on-screen values are approximations and can shift between monitors; for anything going to print, always match to an official Pantone swatch book.
Pantone colours are physical ink formulations identified by number, not mathematical values, which is why conversion to RGB or CMYK is genuinely approximate rather than merely imprecise. A spot colour is mixed to a recipe and printed as a single ink; RGB is emitted light and CMYK is process printing built from four separations. Many Pantone colours — particularly vivid oranges, greens and any metallic or fluorescent — fall outside what CMYK can reproduce at all, so the converted value is the closest achievable rather than a match. Screen appearance adds further variance from monitor calibration.
No exact formula — conversion is a lookup against published valuesSpot colour = a specific mixed ink, printed as one separationCMYK = four-colour process approximation, with a smaller gamutRGB = emitted light, device and calibration dependentwhere:
Assumptions: Always confirm against a physical Pantone swatch book under standardised lighting for print work. Screen previews are unreliable for colour approval regardless of conversion accuracy, and paper stock changes the printed result substantially.
Follow one Pantone colour through CMYK and RGB and identify where the loss occurs.
ResultOut-of-gamut spot colours cannot be matched in CMYK — only approximated
This gamut gap is why brand guidelines specify a Pantone number alongside CMYK and RGB values rather than converting between them, and why premium packaging pays for a fifth spot-colour plate. The conversion is not wrong; the target is simply unreachable in process.