Extract text from Adobe color swatches (ACO)
To convert ACO swatches to another format, you need Adobe Photoshop or other Settings software.
To convert other file formats to the "Color Swatch File" file type, you need software like Adobe Photoshop or a similar tool.
The .ACO file is primarily an Adobe Color Swatch file. It stores custom color palettes used by Adobe Photoshop and other Adobe applications. These files contain color values defined in various color spaces, including RGB, CMYK, HSB, Lab, and Grayscale. In rare cases, an .ACO file functions as a 3D library object or model file used by Graphisoft Archicad or 3D-Coat.
Users often need to convert .ACO files because the format is a proprietary binary file. It requires a paid Adobe subscription to open natively. Web browsers and modern UI design tools like Figma or Sketch do not support .ACO files. This makes sharing color palettes with developers or non-Adobe designers difficult.
To use these swatches outside the Adobe ecosystem, you must convert the .ACO file to a standard text format like CSV, JSON, or extract the raw hex codes. Because .ACO is a closed format, standard online converters often fail to read the binary data. Often, only the original software can properly read or export the data. However, just drag and drop your file to identify the format, view it, and convert it when possible. If our analysis detects a supported underlying format, we can help extract the color values or hex codes.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ACO file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted ASE, ACB, GPL, FRAMERCMS, SWATCHES, PNG, ACT, ZIP, PSD, TXT, PAL, ASO and AI files.
If you want to convert ACO file to PNG, ASE, ACB, GIF, INI, CFG, CONF, CONFIG, JSON, XML, YAML or YML, you can use Adobe Photoshop or similar software from the "Color Palette Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert ZSHRC, CONF, RCFILE, GITCONFIG, RC, PLIST, BASHRC, CONFIG, PROFILE, INI, PREFS or CFG files to ACO, try Adobe Photoshop or another comparable tool in the "Color Palette Storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our ACO converter.