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How to Open an ASE Color Palette on Mac

An ASE file (Adobe Swatch Exchange) is a color palette, like one from Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or a palette website like Coolors. macOS has no app that opens it.

With Simple Color Palette

  1. Open Simple Color Palette, and choose “File › Import Palettes…”.
  2. Select one or more .ase files. You can also drop the files on the Dock icon of the app instead.
  3. Save the palette. The app converts it to a .color-palette file, and opens it.
  4. To copy the value of a color, right-click it, and choose a format below “Copy As…”, like RGB or Hex.

“File › Open” does not show .ase files, as it only opens .color-palette files. Use “Import Palettes…” instead.

Tips

  • To add the colors of an .ase file to a palette that is open, drop the file on the window of the palette.
  • The app also imports Color List (.clr) files, the palettes of the macOS color picker.
  • Press Space on a .color-palette file in Finder to see its colors with Quick Look.
A palette with five colors and their RGB values in Simple Color Palette

Get Simple Color Palette

Create, view, and edit color palettes

Download on the App Store

Free

Platforms
macOS, iOS, visionOS
Requires
macOS, iOS, or visionOS 26 or later
Category
Graphics & Design
Released
April 2025
Privacy
No data collected
Updated
April 2026
Version
1.3.1
Size
9 MB

More about Simple Color Palette

Without an app

macOS cannot open ASE files. If you have an Adobe app, like Illustrator or Photoshop, you can load the file in its Swatches panel.

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