A pixel art color palette is a curated set of colors used in a pixel art piece. Unlike digital painting where millions of colors are available, pixel art traditionally uses a limited palette—often 4, 8, 16, or 32 colors—to create a cohesive, retro aesthetic. Limiting your palette forces intentional color choices and creates visual harmony.

It depends on your style. Classic systems like the NES used ~54 colors but most sprites used 3-4 colors. The GameBoy used 4 shades of green. PICO-8 uses 16 colors total. For modern pixel art, 16–32 colors is a sweet spot—enough for variety but constrained enough to maintain a cohesive look. DawnBringer's 32-color palette is legendary among spriters.

Hue shifting is a technique where shadows shift toward cooler hues (like blue/purple) and highlights shift toward warmer hues (like yellow/orange), rather than simply making a color darker or lighter. This creates more vibrant, dynamic shading. For example, a red object might have orange highlights and purple shadows—this is visible in many classic game palettes.

PICO-8's 16-color palette is excellent for beginners—it's vibrant and well-balanced. The DawnBringer 32 palette is a favorite for its earthy, versatile tones. ARNE 16 offers great flexibility. GameBoy's 4-color palette teaches you to work with extreme constraints. Each preset in this tool is a great starting point—click to load and experiment!

Start with a base color, then use hue shifting to create lighter and darker variants. Keep saturation consistent across your ramp. Use the color harmony tools in this picker (complementary, analogous) to find colors that work together. Limit your palette size—constraints breed creativity. Test your palette by drawing a small sprite to see how the colors interact.

Yes! Click the Export button to copy all hex codes. You can paste these into Aseprite's palette editor, Photoshop swatches, or any pixel art software. Most tools accept hex code lists. You can also save your palette to browser storage and return to it later—no account needed.

Indexed color means each pixel references a color by its index number in a palette table (e.g., "color #3"), rather than storing full RGB values. This was how retro game hardware worked—saving memory and creating the distinct look of classic games. Many pixel art workflows still use indexed palettes for authenticity and efficiency.

Click and drag on the large square to adjust saturation (horizontal) and brightness/value (vertical). Use the hue slider to change the base color. The harmony section shows complementary and analogous colors. You can also type a hex code directly or use the Eyedropper tool (Chrome/Edge) to sample colors from anywhere on your screen.