Pantone to Sherwin-Williams Converter
Enter a HEX code or pick a Pantone color to find the closest Sherwin-Williams paint match. Matching is done with Delta E 2000 (the CIE industry standard for perceptual color difference) against a curated 40-color Sherwin-Williams reference set. Results are approximations for design exploration — always verify paint codes with Sherwin-Williams directly before ordering.
What is Pantone to Sherwin-Williams conversion?
Pantone and Sherwin-Williams are different color specification systems with different reference materials, different pigment mixes, and different substrates. Pantone is primarily a print and graphic-design standard; Sherwin-Williams is primarily an architectural paint standard. No official cross-reference exists between them, because the two systems were never designed to be interchangeable.
What this converter does is find the visually closest Sherwin-Williams color to a given Pantone reference, using a perceptually-tuned distance metric (Delta E 2000). That gives a good starting point for design exploration — but a paint chip viewed under real lighting always trumps any digital approximation.
How the conversion works
For each Pantone color, the converter:
- Converts the Pantone HEX to RGB, then to CIELAB (a perceptual color space).
- Computes Delta E 2000 between the Pantone LAB and each Sherwin-Williams color's LAB (40 colors in this reference set).
- Ranks by lowest Delta E — lower means closer, with values under ~2 often being visually indistinguishable and values over ~5 clearly different.
Delta E 2000 is the current CIE standard for perceptual color difference. It weights the components (lightness, chroma, hue) based on human visual perception and adjusts for regional non-uniformities in color space, so a Delta E 3 in the blue region and a Delta E 3 in the yellow region both look "equally different" to the human eye. Older Delta E 1976 metrics do not have this property.
Accuracy and limitations
This tool is a visual approximation, not a color specification. Three things to understand:
- Different substrates. Pantone inks (coated and uncoated) reflect light very differently from Sherwin-Williams paint (eggshell, satin, semi-gloss) — even a "perfect" Delta E 0 match on screen will look different in physical reality.
- Limited reference set. Our Sherwin-Williams reference includes 40 widely-used colors, not the full ~2,000-color Sherwin-Williams library. If your target is outside those, the "closest" match may be visually distant.
- Screen accuracy. The match you see depends on your monitor's calibration and the ambient lighting of your room. Two designers on two machines can see meaningfully different matches.
For critical color work — brand identity, packaging, architectural paint — do not rely on this tool alone. Order a Sherwin-Williams sample chip or paint a small test patch and view it under the actual lighting conditions.
Use cases
- Interior design from a brand palette. A designer adapting a brand color to architectural paint can use this as a starting point, then verify with a chip.
- Packaging mockups. When packaging printed in Pantone ink appears in a photographic interior, choosing a physically-close Sherwin-Williams color for the set painting matches the palette.
- Film and photo styling. Set decorators matching a Pantone brand color to a painted wall can quickly shortlist Sherwin-Williams candidates.
- Client communication. Presenting a "closest paint match" gives clients a familiar reference point (a paint brand) rather than an abstract Pantone code.
Common mistakes
- Ordering paint based on a digital preview without a physical sample — the printed/swatch result will differ from screen.
- Assuming Delta E < 3 means "identical" — it means "close enough that most people would not notice side-by-side, in isolation". The two are not the same thing.
- Forgetting that Sherwin-Williams offers the same code in multiple sheens (eggshell, satin, semi-gloss) — the sheen changes perceived color under directional light.
- Using a coated Pantone as the reference when the design was specified for uncoated — the two are different colors that often have different paint matches.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is Pantone to Sherwin-Williams matching?
The conversion is a visual approximation, not an official mapping. Paint colors and printed ink colors are produced with entirely different pigments and substrates, so no two Pantone and Sherwin-Williams codes are perfectly identical. We use Delta E 2000 (the most accurate modern perceptual color-difference metric) to find the closest visual match in the Sherwin-Williams palette. Verify with a physical paint chip before ordering — on-screen previews and digital color matches are not a substitute for physical samples.
What is the closest Sherwin-Williams to Pantone 286 C?
Pantone 286 C is a deep royal blue. In our 40-color Sherwin-Williams reference set, the closest matches are SW 6244 Naval (#2F3D4C), SW 9178 In the Navy (#2C3B4D), and SW 2739 Charcoal Blue (#3D4A52), all at Delta E 2000 under 8. None of them is an exact match — 286 C is more saturated than any of these — but Naval is the closest visual approximation for most design purposes.
Can I use this tool for paint ordering?
No. This converter is a reference tool for design exploration, not an ordering specification. To order paint, take the Sherwin-Williams code to a Sherwin-Williams store and ask for a physical sample or chip — the paint that gets mixed at the store will be a much more precise match than anything you get from a screen. Always verify the color in the actual lighting conditions where it will be used.
Why do the matches look different on my screen?
Three factors affect the match on your screen: display calibration, ambient lighting, and the physical difference between emitted light (screens) and reflected light (paint). Two people looking at the same page on different monitors will see slightly different colors. The colors on this page are approximations optimized for sRGB, and they should be treated as a rough guide, not a precise rendering.
Are Sherwin-Williams color codes trademarked?
Sherwin-Williams color names and codes are trademarks of Sherwin-Williams Company. This page is not affiliated with Sherwin-Williams. The color values shown are widely published approximations and are used here for reference and comparison only. If you plan to use these values commercially, always verify with Sherwin-Williams or a licensed representative.