HSL and HSV
![Fig. 1. HSL (a–d) and HSV (e–h). Above (a, e): cut-away 3D models of each. Below: two-dimensional plots showing two of a model’s three parameters at once, holding the other constant: cylindrical shells (b, f) of constant saturation, in this case the outside surface of each cylinder; horizontal cross-sections (c, g) of constant HSL lightness or HSV value, in this case the slices halfway down each cylinder; and rectangular vertical cross-sections (d, h) of constant hue, in this case of hues 0° red and its complement 180° cyan.](/Images/godic/202501/18/Hsl-hsv_models.svg1254.png")
![Fig. 2a. HSL cylinderFig. 2b. HSV cylinder](/Images/godic/202501/18/HSL_color_solid_cylinder_alpha_lowgamma1254.png")
![](/Images/godic/202501/18/HSV_color_solid_cylinder_alpha_lowgamma1255.png")
![Fig. 3a–b. If we plot hue and (a) HSL lightness or (b) HSV value against chroma rather than saturation, the resulting solid is a bicone or cone, respectively, not a cylinder. Such diagrams often claim to represent HSL or HSV directly, with the chroma dimension deceptively labeled](/Images/godic/202501/18/HSL_color_solid_dblcone_chroma_gray1255.png")
HSL and HSV are the two most common cylindrical-coordinate representations of points in an RGB color model. The two representations rearrange the geometry of RGB in an attempt to be more intuitive and perceptually relevant than the cartesian (cube) representation. Developed in the 1970s for computer graphics applications, HSL and HSV are used today in color pickers, in image editing software, and less commonly in image analysis and computer vision.