Extract text from color list files (CLR)
To convert CLR color lists to another format, you need Apple macOS or other Settings software.
To convert other file formats to the "Color Palette File" file type, you need software like Apple macOS or a similar tool.
A .CLR file is primarily an Apple Color List. Apple operating systems use these files to store custom color swatches in the system color picker. Applications like Sketch and Keynote rely on them to share color palettes across design projects. Structurally, macOS .CLR files use the Apple Property List (PLIST) format to store serialized color data. In a secondary use case, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software like QGIS or Global Mapper use .CLR files to store raster attribute color tables for map shading.
The main disadvantage of the Apple .CLR format is platform restriction. It only works natively on macOS. If you send a .CLR file to a Windows user, they cannot open it. Furthermore, industry-standard design tools like Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop do not support Apple's .CLR format directly, which interrupts cross-platform workflows.
To use these color palettes on Windows or inside Adobe software, you must convert them. For broad design compatibility, convert to ASE (Adobe Swatch Exchange) or ACO (Photoshop Color). For web developers, converting to JSON, CSS, or HEX text formats extracts the exact RGB and HEX values for immediate coding use. For GIS mapping color tables, converting to standard TXT or CSV is the most practical choice.
Convert.Guru analyzes your CLR file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted CRL, CDR, XLSX, ASE, JPG, PRV, FNC and ATM files.
If you want to convert CLR file to INI, CFG, CONF, CONFIG, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, ENV, PROPERTIES or RC, you can use Apple macOS 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 CLR, try Apple macOS 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 CLR converter.