Zenscope Studio

Converting CMYK to RGB (and Vice Versa) in Illustrator CS2

I do most of my graphics work in Photoshop or Fireworks. Every so often, a client sends me an Illustrator or EPS file—usually a logo—that uses CMYK color. I’ve always managed to convert these to RGB color for the web… eventually, but the options to do so aren’t that obvious and I always forget them afterward.¹

While struggling with this same thing again tonight, I came across a simple three-step process for the conversion. You can also use these steps to convert an illustration from RGB color to CMYK. The instructions come from tutorial site The End of Magic. It’s reproduced here because that site is scheduled to shut down soon:

1. Go to File » Document Color Mode and check RGB.
2. Select everything in the document and go to Filter » Color » Convert to RGB.
3. Open the Color palette menu (use the little black arrow on the top right corner) and select RGB.

A notice posted at The End of Magic says the site will soon be replaced with a completely new one. Given the author’s long history of Illustrator tutorials, you should consider subscribing to the TEOM newsletter for notification of the new site’s launch.

Comments (8 so far)

1. Hi Adam,

   I’m a little ignorant on this topic.
   Why somethings need to be converted from CMYK to RGB if you want to work for the web?

   Thanks for this tutorial and for the links to that TEOM site.
   I would like to learn some techniques on how to draw using vectors.

   by Maniquí on May 14, 06:37 pm

2. Images using the CMYK color space can look wrong when viewed on an RGB device such as a monitor, unless they have an embedded color profile and are viewed in an application that’s capable of reading such profiles. Right now, Safari is the only browser that can do this.

   CMYK also provides a more limited color palette than RGB, and can’t display some bright colors at all. In this particular case, I wanted a brighter version of my client’s logo to appear when someone hovered the mouse cursor over it. Converting to RGB was the easiest way to do this, especially since I already had RGB values for the bright colors I wanted to use.

   This page has more in-depth information about the differences between RGB and CMYK color.

   by Adam Messinger on May 16, 12:19 am

3. Thanks for your explanation, and the link you pointed was very useful too to make my head around RGB vs CMYK.

   by Maniquí on May 21, 11:51 am

4. Happy to help. :-)

   by Adam Messinger on May 21, 12:41 pm

5. WOW! exactly what i was looking for. useful, helpful, clearly written. thanks SO much.

   by MaddOphelia on Aug 16, 03:47 pm

6. I have been using this method for a long time without any problems… however with CS3, the Filter » Color » Convert to RGB menu has been moved to Edit » Edit Colors » COnvert to RGB. Only thing is, now it doesn’t seem to work the same way. Is there something in Illustrator I am missing. I miss this old seemingly flawless method.

   Thanks

   by Todd on Sep 10, 07:17 am

7. Thanks for commenting, Todd. I’m afraid I can’t answer your question since I don’t have the CS3 version of Illustrator. If you ever figure it out, though, please come back and post a follow-up comment. I’m sure others would like to know as well. :-)

   by Adam Messinger on Sep 10, 10:38 am

8. Thanks Adam.

   Exactly what I was looking for!

   by Nik on May 4, 09:06 am

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