A color vision test measures how well you separate colors and screens for color vision deficiency. It is the check behind most employment, driving, and military medicals, where it decides whether you meet a color standard for the role. The free online version here takes a couple of minutes and tells you whether one of the red, green, or blue channels is lagging behind the others, and roughly by how much. It is good enough to flag a likely problem on an ordinary screen, but it cannot certify normal vision the way a supervised clinical exam can.
Full color vision screening
Color Vision Test
Identify hidden symbols to screen red-green and blue-yellow color vision. Type and severity are estimates, not a diagnosis.
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How a color vision test works
1. More than red-green
Most quick screenings only look at red-green. A complete color vision test also checks the blue-yellow axis, so this one measures all three cone channels and can pick up tritan problems that an Ishihara plate set leaves out. Before you start, raise your brightness and switch off night-shift, since a dim or tinted display is what throws results off most.
2. Reading the plates
Each plate hides a number or shape in dots that share the same brightness, so only a difference in color gives it away. The test begins easy and closes in on the faintest color difference you can still spot, drawing fresh plates every session so the answers can't be learned in advance.
3. From score to color standard
You get a 0–100 score for the red, green, and blue channels. A low score on one points to a weakness there: red (protan), green (deutan), or blue-yellow (tritan). For anything official, a clinic repeats the test under fixed lighting with calibrated plates or an anomaloscope, and that is the result an employer or licensing authority will accept.
What a color vision test can and cannot tell you
Does it screen for a color vision deficiency? On an ordinary screen it reliably flags whether you likely have one, across the red, green, and blue channels. This is the part to trust.
Which type, and does it cover blue-yellow? It points to protan (red-weak), deutan (green-weak), or tritan (blue-yellow). Unlike an Ishihara test, it includes the blue channel, though mild red and green sit close together, so read the type as a strong hint.
Is it the same as a clinical color vision test? No. A clinic uses calibrated plates and fixed lighting, so its result can certify a color standard; this one gives a relative score for your own tracking. See how the methods differ.
Need it for a medical, job, or licence? Get it confirmed by an optometrist or occupational-health clinic. You can check which roles and licences require normal color vision in our color blindness & driving guide.
This is a free screening and self-assessment tool, not a medical diagnosis. Results are affected by your screen, its color settings, and room lighting.
Color vision test — frequently asked questions
- What is a color vision test?
- It is the standard way to find out whether someone sees colors normally. A tester shows colored plates, has you arrange color caps in order, or asks you to match a light on an anomaloscope, and your responses reveal whether one cone channel is weaker than the rest. Optometrists, occupational-health clinics, and licensing bodies all use some form of it. The version on this page uses the plate method and covers all three channels.
- How is a color vision test done?
- It depends on what is being checked. A screening uses plates you read aloud; a classification test such as the Farnsworth D-15 has you arrange color caps in order; the most precise version, the anomaloscope, asks you to match a yellow light by mixing red and green. This page uses the plate method, and your answers are scored automatically as you go.
- Is this online color vision test accurate?
- It is dependable for the yes-or-no part: on an ordinary monitor it catches a likely color vision deficiency about as well as a clinic's first pass. Pinning down the exact type and how severe it is depends on your screen and room lighting, so read those as an estimate rather than a measurement.
- Can I use this color vision test for a job, medical, or driving licence?
- As preparation yes, as proof no. Roles that set a color standard, such as driving, aviation, the military, merchant navy, railways, and electrical trades, require a supervised test with controlled lighting and approved plates. Take this first to see roughly where you stand, then get an official result from an optometrist or occupational-health clinic. Which roles and licences actually require it is covered in our color blindness and driving guide.
- What is the difference between a color vision test and a color blind test?
- They overlap, but the wording signals a different setting. "Color vision test" is what you see in clinics, occupational screening, and licence forms, while "color blind test" is the everyday phrase people search for the same self-check. This tool runs the same engine as our color blind test and reports the same type and severity.
- What does a normal color vision test result look like?
- A normal (trichromatic) result means you read the plates the way someone with full color vision does, with no channel flagged as weak. If one channel scores low, that is the likely deficiency and roughly its strength. Since this runs on an uncalibrated screen, take the type and degree as a guide for yourself, not a clinical grade.