[android] How to change colors of a Drawable in Android?

I'm working on an android application, and I have a drawable that I'm loading up from a source image. On this image, I'd like to convert all of the white pixels to a different color, say blue, and then cache the resultant Drawable object so I can use it later.

So for example say I have a 20x20 PNG file that has a white circle in the middle, and that everything outside the circle is transparent. What's the best way to turn that white circle blue and cache the results? Does the answer change if I want to use that source image to create several new Drawables (say blue, red, green, orange, etc)?

I'm guessing that I'll want to use a ColorMatrix in some way, but I'm not sure how.

This question is related to android android-drawable

The answer is


It works for some simple drawables. I used it on a simple solid color rect shape with rounded corners and needed to change that color with different layouts.

Try this

android:backgroundTint="#101010"

It's very very simple when you use a library to do that for you. Try this library

You can call like this:

Icon.on(holderView).color(R.color.your_color).icon(R.mipmap.your_icon).put();

If you have your drawable set to the ImageView you can do it with a 1 liner:

yourImageView.setColorFilter(context.getResources().getColor(R.color.YOUR_COLOR_HERE);

This works with everything with background:

Textview, Button...

TextView text = (TextView) View.findViewById(R.id.MyText);
text.setBackgroundResource(Icon);    
text.getBackground().setColorFilter(getResources().getColor(Color), PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_ATOP);

Give this code a try:

ImageView lineColorCode = (ImageView)convertView.findViewById(R.id.line_color_code);
int color = Color.parseColor("#AE6118"); //The color u want             
lineColorCode.setColorFilter(color);

There are so many solution but nobody suggested if the color resource xml file already have color then we can pick directly from there also as below:

ImageView imageView = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.imageview);
imageView.setColorFilter(getString(R.color.your_color));

If you have a drawable that's a solid color and you want to change it to a differnet solid color, you can use a ColorMatrixColorFilter. Transparency is preserved.

int iColor = Color.parseColor(color);

int red   = (iColor & 0xFF0000) / 0xFFFF;
int green = (iColor & 0xFF00) / 0xFF;
int blue  = iColor & 0xFF;

float[] matrix = { 0, 0, 0, 0, red,
                   0, 0, 0, 0, green,
                   0, 0, 0, 0, blue,
                   0, 0, 0, 1, 0 };

ColorFilter colorFilter = new ColorMatrixColorFilter(matrix);
drawable.setColorFilter(colorFilter);

This code snippet worked for me:

PorterDuffColorFilter porterDuffColorFilter = new PorterDuffColorFilter(getResources().getColor(R.color.your_color),PorterDuff.Mode.MULTIPLY);

imgView.getDrawable().setColorFilter(porterDuffColorFilter);
imgView.setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT)

Short example to change drawable color according to isWorking field.

My shape xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <solid android:color="@android:color/holo_blue_bright" />
    <corners android:radius="30dp" />
    <size
        android:height="15dp"
        android:width="15dp" />
</shape>

My method to change:

private Drawable getColoredDrawable(int drawableResId, boolean isworking) {
    Drawable d = getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.shape);
    ColorFilter filter = new LightingColorFilter(
            isworking ? Color.GREEN : Color.RED,
            isworking ? Color.GREEN : Color.RED);
    d.setColorFilter(filter);
    return d;
}

Example of usage:

text1.setCompoundDrawablesWithIntrinsicBounds(getColoredDrawable(R.drawable.shape, isworking()), null, null, null);

I know this question was ask way before Lollipop but I would like to add a nice way to do this on Android 5.+. You make an xml drawable that references the original one and set tint on it like such:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<bitmap
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:src="@drawable/ic_back"
    android:tint="@color/red_tint"/>

Int color = Color.GRAY; 
// or int color = Color.argb(123,255,0,5);
// or int color = 0xaaff000;

in XML /res/values/color.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8">
<resources>
    <color name="colorRed">#ff0000</color>
</resoures> 

Java Code

int color = ContextCompat.getColor(context, R.color.colorRed);

GradientDrawable drawableBg = yourView.getBackground().mutate();
drawableBg.setColor(color);

view.getDrawable().mutate().setColorFilter(0xff777777, PorterDuff.Mode.MULTIPLY); 

Thanks to @sabadow


You should do this for all APIs:

Drawable myIcon = getResources().getDrawable( R.drawable.button ); 
ColorFilter filter = new LightingColorFilter( Color.BLACK, Color.BLACK);
myIcon.setColorFilter(filter);

In your Activity you can tint your PNG image resources with a single colour:

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    myColorTint();
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
}

private void myColorTint() {
    int tint = Color.parseColor("#0000FF"); // R.color.blue;
    PorterDuff.Mode mode = PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_ATOP;
    // add your drawable resources you wish to tint to the drawables array...
    int drawables[] = { R.drawable.ic_action_edit, R.drawable.ic_action_refresh };
    for (int id : drawables) {
        Drawable icon = getResources().getDrawable(id);
        icon.setColorFilter(tint,mode);
    }
}

Now when you use the R.drawable.* it should be coloured with the desired tint. If you need additional colours then you should be able to .mutate() the drawable.


I also use ImageView for icons (in ListView or settings screen). But I think there is much simpler way to do that.

Use tint to change the color overlay on your selected icon.

In xml,

android:tint="@color/accent"
android:src="@drawable/ic_event" 

works fine since it comes from AppCompat


Too late but in case someone need it:

   fun setDrawableColor(drawable: Drawable, color: Int) :Drawable {
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.Q) {
            drawable.colorFilter = BlendModeColorFilter(color, BlendMode.SRC_ATOP)
            return drawable
        } else {
            drawable.setColorFilter(color, PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_ATOP)
            return drawable
        }
    }

The new support v4 bring tint back to api 4.

you can do it like this

public static Drawable setTint(Drawable d, int color) {
    Drawable wrappedDrawable = DrawableCompat.wrap(d);
    DrawableCompat.setTint(wrappedDrawable, color);
    return wrappedDrawable;
}

Check out this sample code "ColorMatrixSample.java"

/*
 * Copyright (C) 2007 The Android Open Source Project
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package com.example.android.apis.graphics;

import com.example.android.apis.R;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.*;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.KeyEvent;
import android.view.View;

public class ColorMatrixSample extends GraphicsActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(new SampleView(this));
    }

    private static class SampleView extends View {
        private Paint mPaint = new Paint(Paint.ANTI_ALIAS_FLAG);
        private ColorMatrix mCM = new ColorMatrix();
        private Bitmap mBitmap;
        private float mSaturation;
        private float mAngle;

        public SampleView(Context context) {
            super(context);

            mBitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(context.getResources(),
                                                   R.drawable.balloons);
        }

        private static void setTranslate(ColorMatrix cm, float dr, float dg,
                                         float db, float da) {
            cm.set(new float[] {
                   2, 0, 0, 0, dr,
                   0, 2, 0, 0, dg,
                   0, 0, 2, 0, db,
                   0, 0, 0, 1, da });
        }

        private static void setContrast(ColorMatrix cm, float contrast) {
            float scale = contrast + 1.f;
               float translate = (-.5f * scale + .5f) * 255.f;
            cm.set(new float[] {
                   scale, 0, 0, 0, translate,
                   0, scale, 0, 0, translate,
                   0, 0, scale, 0, translate,
                   0, 0, 0, 1, 0 });
        }

        private static void setContrastTranslateOnly(ColorMatrix cm, float contrast) {
            float scale = contrast + 1.f;
               float translate = (-.5f * scale + .5f) * 255.f;
            cm.set(new float[] {
                   1, 0, 0, 0, translate,
                   0, 1, 0, 0, translate,
                   0, 0, 1, 0, translate,
                   0, 0, 0, 1, 0 });
        }

        private static void setContrastScaleOnly(ColorMatrix cm, float contrast) {
            float scale = contrast + 1.f;
               float translate = (-.5f * scale + .5f) * 255.f;
            cm.set(new float[] {
                   scale, 0, 0, 0, 0,
                   0, scale, 0, 0, 0,
                   0, 0, scale, 0, 0,
                   0, 0, 0, 1, 0 });
        }

        @Override protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas) {
            Paint paint = mPaint;
            float x = 20;
            float y = 20;

            canvas.drawColor(Color.WHITE);

            paint.setColorFilter(null);
            canvas.drawBitmap(mBitmap, x, y, paint);

            ColorMatrix cm = new ColorMatrix();

            mAngle += 2;
            if (mAngle > 180) {
                mAngle = 0;
            }

            //convert our animated angle [-180...180] to a contrast value of [-1..1]
            float contrast = mAngle / 180.f;

            setContrast(cm, contrast);
            paint.setColorFilter(new ColorMatrixColorFilter(cm));
            canvas.drawBitmap(mBitmap, x + mBitmap.getWidth() + 10, y, paint);

            setContrastScaleOnly(cm, contrast);
            paint.setColorFilter(new ColorMatrixColorFilter(cm));
            canvas.drawBitmap(mBitmap, x, y + mBitmap.getHeight() + 10, paint);

            setContrastTranslateOnly(cm, contrast);
            paint.setColorFilter(new ColorMatrixColorFilter(cm));
            canvas.drawBitmap(mBitmap, x, y + 2*(mBitmap.getHeight() + 10),
                              paint);

            invalidate();
        }
    }
}

The relevant API is available here:


I think you can actually just use Drawable.setColorFilter( 0xffff0000, Mode.MULTIPLY ). This would set white pixels to red but I don't think it would affect the transparent pixels.

See Drawable#setColorFilter


You can solve it using Android support compat libraries. :)

 // mutate to not share its state with any other drawable
 Drawable drawableWrap = DrawableCompat.wrap(drawable).mutate();
 DrawableCompat.setTint(drawableWrap, ContextCompat.getColor(getContext(), R.color.your_color))