Color Blindness Simulator
See how images and colors look to people with color blindness. Simulate protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia, and more — entirely in your browser.
Test a color
Pick a color to see how it looks under each type of color vision.
Typical vision
#E63946
Protanopia (red-blind)
#9B9A43
Protanomaly (red-weak)
#C67344
Deuteranopia (green-blind)
#A5B242
Deuteranomaly (green-weak)
#C36644
Tritanopia (blue-blind)
#DD4040
Tritanomaly (blue-weak)
#E03C44
Achromatopsia (monochromacy)
#6E6E6E
Achromatomaly (partial monochromacy)
#A5565C
Upload an image
Or use the demo image below. Processing happens entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded to a server.
JPG, PNG, or WebP, up to 10MB.
Vision type
Original
Simulated
Compare all types
All image processing happens in your browser using the Canvas API. Your photos are never uploaded to a server.
Table of Contents
What is color blindness?
Color blindness (color vision deficiency) happens when one or more of the three types of cone cells in the retina — which detect red, green, and blue wavelengths of light — are missing or respond to the wrong wavelengths. Instead of a full spectrum, certain colors look muted, shifted, or indistinguishable from one another.
Most color blindness is inherited and linked to the X chromosome, which is why it affects men far more often than women — about 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some form of it. It can also be acquired later in life from eye disease, certain medications, or injury.
Types of color blindness
Color blindness isn't one condition — it ranges from a complete absence of one cone type to a mild shift in how a cone responds. Here's what each type in this simulator represents:
Typical vision
Prevalence: Most of the populationNo color vision deficiency — used here as a baseline for comparison.
Protanopia (red-blind)
Prevalence: ~1% of menComplete absence of red-sensing cones. Reds appear dark and are easily confused with black or green.
Protanomaly (red-weak)
Prevalence: ~1% of menRed-sensing cones are shifted, making reds, oranges, and greens harder to tell apart.
Deuteranopia (green-blind)
Prevalence: ~1% of menComplete absence of green-sensing cones. Reds and greens are easily confused.
Deuteranomaly (green-weak)
Prevalence: ~5% of men, ~0.4% of womenThe most common form of color blindness. Green-sensing cones are shifted toward red.
Tritanopia (blue-blind)
Prevalence: ~1 in 10,000 peopleComplete absence of blue-sensing cones. Blues and greens, and yellows and violets, are easily confused.
Tritanomaly (blue-weak)
Prevalence: Extremely rareBlue-sensing cones are shifted, making blues and greens, and yellows and pinks, harder to distinguish.
Achromatopsia (monochromacy)
Prevalence: ~1 in 30,000 peopleNo functioning cone cells — the world is seen entirely in shades of gray.
Achromatomaly (partial monochromacy)
Prevalence: Extremely rareSeverely reduced color perception across all three cone types.
How this simulator works
- Upload a photo, or start with the built-in demo image.
- Choose a vision type, or view every type at once in the comparison grid.
- Each pixel's red, green, and blue values are transformed using color matrices that approximate how that type of color vision perceives them.
- Download the result to share in a design review, presentation, or accessibility report.
Designing for color blindness
- Never use color as the only way to convey information — pair it with icons, patterns, labels, or text.
- Test charts and graphs against deuteranomaly first; it's the most common form of color blindness by far.
- Avoid red/green as the sole distinction for status indicators (success vs. error); add a checkmark or icon.
- Check contrast, not just hue — two colors can have completely different lightness even if a color-blind user can't tell their hues apart.
- Blue and orange are a safer default pairing than red and green for the most common color vision deficiencies.
Frequently asked questions
It uses well-established color-transformation matrices to approximate how each type of color blindness affects perceived color. It's a good way to build intuition and catch obvious accessibility problems, but it isn't a medical diagnostic tool — actual experiences vary from person to person.
Deuteranomaly (green-weak) is by far the most common, affecting roughly 5% of men. Along with protanomaly and deuteranopia, red-green deficiencies make up the vast majority of all color blindness cases.
The genes for red and green cone cells are on the X chromosome. Men have only one X chromosome, so a single altered gene causes color blindness. Women have two X chromosomes and need both copies affected, which is far less likely — though it does happen.
There is no cure for inherited color blindness. Some color-correcting glasses and apps can increase contrast between certain colors for some users, but they don't restore normal three-cone color vision.
No. This tool reads your image directly in the browser using the HTML5 Canvas API and never uploads it to a server.