Split a PNG into YCbCr Channels
Convert an image into its YCbCr components — the luma channel Y and the two chroma channels Cb and Cr — each as a grayscale PNG. YCbCr is the model JPEG and video use to separate brightness from colour. Drop a file and download the channels as a ZIP, processed in your browser.
Drop images here
Multiple files allowed · one ZIP per image
What each channel is
- Y (luma) — brightness. On its own it's an excellent grayscale, because it's perceptually weighted.
- Cb — blue-difference chroma (how blue vs. yellow).
- Cr — red-difference chroma (how red vs. green).
Why YCbCr exists
The eye is far more sensitive to brightness than to colour, so JPEG and video codecs store the Y channel at full resolution and compress the Cb/Cr chroma more heavily — a big space saving you barely notice. Splitting the channels here shows exactly what those formats are separating.
FAQ
Is the Y channel a good grayscale?
Yes — luma uses the same perceptual weighting as our Grayscale tool, so the Y channel and a grayscale conversion look essentially identical.
Why do Cb and Cr look flat and mid-gray?
Chroma is centred on 128 (neutral) and only deviates where colour is strong, so low-saturation areas sit near mid-gray. That's expected.
Part of: Get pixel values out in another colour space
Pick by what the receiving code expects: HSL to reason about hue, LAB for perceptual distance, YCbCr for video, CMYK for print.
- 1 PNG to HSL Hue, saturation, lightness — the one for CSS
- 2 PNG to LAB Perceptually uniform, for measuring colour difference
- 3 PNG to YCbCr Luma and two chroma planes, as video codecs see it
- 4 PNG to CMYK The four ink plates a press will actually lay down