Color picker not accurate

[Ido S.]

I've updated After Effects to version 25.0.1, and now the color picker/eyedropper tool isn't picking the correct colors for shapes, text, etc. It’s close, but the hex codes don’t match exactly.

I'm selecting colors from the Library window within After Effects.
When I change the setting in After Effects > Preferences > General > system color picker, it does pick the correct color. However, I’d prefer not to use the system color picker—I want to use the default one.

This issue didn’t occur in the previous 2024 version of After Effects, where everything worked perfectly with the same project color settings and color management.

Has anyone else experienced this or found a solution?

[Zack Einhorn]

Hi @Ido S., Im Zack from the AE engineering team. Thanks for reporting this issue. I can reproduce what you're seeing. I have filed a bug and we will take a look as soon as we can!

[alind0725]

I can confirm I have the exact same issue. The only workaround I've found is using a third party tool, such as Colors from Good Boy Ninja, which bypasses the color picker and applies the colors straight away to fill or stroke. That said, got to be careful if building your color palettes in these tools using the AE color picker haha, as all the hex codes will end up off until AE fixes this issue. So need to manually create your palette by typing in the hex codes originally, but once your palette is setup with correct codes you don't need to worry about it anymore. Another option would be to build your Colors color palette in AE 24 using the color picker (which seems to work fine for me), and then fire up the extension in AE 25 and your colors will be coded properly also. Anyways, kind of a clunky solution but it did allow me to fully explore the functionality of Colors by Good Boy Ninja, which is fanstastic I must say once you get used to it's quirks.

[Scrobwofl]

I'm also getting this issue on the latest and previous versions of AE. Libraries is unusable right now. You can't copy the color code and you can't use the color picker. It's very frustrating.

[Jordon5E8B]

I am seeing this same result and also getting color shifts when bringing in .eps files exported from illustrator.

Please fix the color management in AE ASAP.

[jotoenne]

Same Problem here.

Everything worked fine in previous versions.

Now if i pick a color from a swatch library, they are off. Swatch color is #30D05A, picking it creates #72CD62.

When will this be fixed?

[The Shoots Group]

Same issue - is anyone gonna fix this?

[Fillipe249654869azp]

I also have the same problem. Every time I try to pick a color from the Library (That I created to save time), it's picking the wrong color.

[jotoenne]

Why is this not fixed yet.

There have been plenty of AE updates already.

This is a very annoying bug und limits my workflow severely.

[alind0725]

They clearly cherry pick the issues they WANT to fix, not what people need fixed that is crippling to workflows.

[shmiths]

I have had this issue for a long time now, and still remains. It's incredibly frustrating

Also, why isnt there an easy way to copy the hex from your Colour library????

Sort it out Adobe, a ridiculour bug to remain over multiple versions!

[Robin27468965gg67]

I'm still having this issue as well. Please Adobe fix this! I'm ready to throw my laptop out of the window at this point.

[Cyticre]

Having this same problem on Adobe After Effects Version 25.3.2 (Build 2)  as of July 29th, 2025. 

Anyone else building replacement software for AE yet that I can $ fund so we can all stop using Adobe AE?

Feels like Adobe gave up on their prosumer market a long time ago based on all the bugs this software continually has. I just dont see the same level of continual basic bugs with software developers like Maxon C4D and Da Vinci.