diff --git a/core/includes/common.inc b/core/includes/common.inc
index 5d45937..845b38b 100644
--- a/core/includes/common.inc
+++ b/core/includes/common.inc
@@ -2082,85 +2082,6 @@ function _format_date_callback(array $matches = NULL, $new_langcode = NULL) {
 }
 
 /**
- * Parses a color string.
- *
- * @param $hex
- *   A hexadecimal color string to parse. Can be prefixed with '#' and have
- *   either one or two digits per component.
- * @param $alpha
- *   (Optional) Whether or not to allow an alpha transparency component.
- *   Defaults to FALSE.
- *
- * @return
- *   An array with the keys 'red', 'green', 'blue' and 'alpha' with the
- *   corresponding integers as values. FALSE if the input is invalid.
- *
- * @see drupal_rgba_to_hex()
- */
-function drupal_hex_to_rgba($hex, $alpha = FALSE) {
-  // Ignore '#' prefixes.
-  $hex = ltrim($hex, '#');
-
-  // Convert shorhands like '#abc' to '#aabbcc'.
-  if (strlen($hex) <= 4) {
-    $hex = preg_replace('|([0-9a-z])|i', '\1\1', $hex);
-  }
-
-  // Parse out the components.
-  if (!preg_match('/^([0-9a-f]{2})([0-9a-f]{2})([0-9a-f]{2})([0-7][0-9a-f])?$/i', $hex, $rgba)) {
-    return FALSE;
-  }
-
-  // The input is invalid, if alpha is not allowed but given.
-  if (!$alpha && isset($rgba[4])) {
-    return FALSE;
-  }
-
-  // Return the result array.
-  return array(
-    'red' => hexdec($rgba[1]),
-    'green' => hexdec($rgba[2]),
-    'blue' => hexdec($rgba[3]),
-    'alpha' => isset($rgba[4]) ? hexdec($rgba[4]) : 0,
-  );
-}
-
-/**
- * Converts a color array to a color string.
- *
- * @param $rgba
- *   An array with integer values for the keys 'red', 'green', 'blue' and
- *   'alpha'. Components that are not given default to 0.
- *
- * @return
- *   A lowercase color string like '#00ff00'.
- *
- * @see drupal_hex_to_rgba()
- */
-function drupal_rgba_to_hex($rgba) {
-  if (!is_array($rgba)) {
-    return '#000000';
-  }
-
-  $rgba += array(
-    'red' => 0,
-    'green' => 0,
-    'blue' => 0,
-    'alpha' => 0,
-  );
-
-  $result = '#';
-
-  foreach (array('red', 'green', 'blue', 'alpha') as $component) {
-    if ($component != 'alpha' || $rgba[$component]) {
-      $result .= str_pad(dechex($rgba[$component]), 2, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT);
-    }
-  }
-
-  return $result;
-}
-
-/**
  * @} End of "defgroup format".
  */
 
diff --git a/core/includes/form.inc b/core/includes/form.inc
index 9f952f9..5bdaf90 100644
--- a/core/includes/form.inc
+++ b/core/includes/form.inc
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
  * Functions for form and batch generation and processing.
  */
 
+use Drupal\Core\Utility\Color;
+
 /**
  * @defgroup forms Form builder functions
  * @{
@@ -4088,7 +4090,7 @@ function form_validate_url(&$element, &$form_state) {
 /**
  * Form element validation handler for #type 'color'.
  */
-function form_validate_color($element, &$form_state) {
+function form_validate_color(&$element, &$form_state) {
   // Empty means black.
   $value = trim($element['#value']);
   if ($value === '') {
@@ -4096,9 +4098,9 @@ function form_validate_color($element, &$form_state) {
   }
 
   // Try to parse the value.
-  if ($parsed = drupal_hex_to_rgba($value)) {
+  if ($parsed = Color::parseHex($value)) {
     // Set a normalized value.
-    form_set_value($element, drupal_rgba_to_hex($parsed), $form_state);
+    form_set_value($element, $parsed->__toString(), $form_state);
   }
   else {
     form_error($element, t('%name must be a valid color.', array('%name' => empty($element['#title']) ? $element['#parents'][0] : $element['#title'])));
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Utility/Color.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Utility/Color.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..472d223
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Utility/Color.php
@@ -0,0 +1,179 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * @file
+ * Definition of Drupal\Core\Utility\Color.
+ */
+
+namespace Drupal\Core\Utility;
+
+/**
+ * Represents a color.
+ */
+class Color {
+
+  /**
+   * The red component of the color as an integer between 0 and 255.
+   *
+   * @var int
+   */
+  protected $red;
+
+  /**
+   * The green component of the color as an integer between 0 and 255.
+   *
+   * @var int
+   */
+  protected $green;
+
+  /**
+   * The blue component of the color as an integer between 0 and 255.
+   *
+   * @var int
+   */
+  protected $blue;
+
+  /**
+   * The alpha component of the color as an integer between 0 and 127, where
+   * 0 is opaque and 127 is fully transparent.
+   *
+   * @var int
+   */
+  protected $alpha;
+
+  /**
+   * Constructs a Color object.
+   *
+   * @param int $red
+   *   The red component of the color as an integer between 0 and 255.
+   * @param int $green
+   *   The green component of the color as an integer between 0 and 255.
+   * @param int $blue
+   *   The blue component of the color as an integer between 0 and 255.
+   * @param int $alpha
+   *   Optional. The alpha component of the color as an integer between 0 and
+   *   127, where 0 is opaque and 127 is fully transparent. Defaults to 0.
+   *
+   * @throws \InvalidArgumentException
+   *   When one of the components has an invalid value.
+   */
+  public function __construct($red, $green, $blue, $alpha = 0) {
+    if ($red < 0 || $green < 0 || $blue < 0 || $alpha < 0) {
+      throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Color components must be positive integers.');
+    }
+
+    if ($red > 255 || $green > 255 || $blue > 255) {
+      throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Color components must be between 0 and 255.');
+    }
+
+    if ($alpha > 127) {
+      throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Alpha component must be between 0 and 127.');
+    }
+
+    $this->red = (int) $red;
+    $this->green = (int) $green;
+    $this->blue = (int) $blue;
+    $this->alpha = (int) $alpha;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Implements PHP magic __toString method to convert the color to a string.
+   *
+   * @return string
+   *   A hexadecimal representation of the color like '#aabbcc' or '#aabbcc55'.
+   */
+  public function __toString() {
+    $result = '#';
+
+    foreach (array('red', 'green', 'blue', 'alpha') as $component) {
+      if ($component != 'alpha' || $this->{$component}) {
+        $result .= str_pad(dechex($this->{$component}), 2, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT);
+      }
+    }
+
+    return $result;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Gets the red component of the color.
+   *
+   * @return int
+   *   The red component of the color as an integer between 0 and 255.
+   */
+  public function getRed() {
+    return $this->red;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Gets the green component of the color.
+   *
+   * @return int
+   *   The green component of the color as an integer between 0 and 255.
+   */
+  public function getGreen() {
+    return $this->green;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Gets the blue component of the color.
+   *
+   * @return int
+   *   The blue component of the color as an integer between 0 and 255.
+   */
+  public function getBlue() {
+    return $this->blue;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Gets the alpha component of the color.
+   *
+   * @return int
+   *   The alpha component of the color as an integer between 0 and 127, where
+   *   0 is opaque and 127 is fully transparent.
+   */
+  public function getAlpha() {
+    return $this->alpha;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Gets the decimal alpha component of the color.
+   *
+   * @return float
+   *   The alpha component of the color as a float between 0 and 1, where 0 is
+   *   fully transparent and 1 is opaque.
+   */
+  public function getDecimalAlpha() {
+    return 1 - $alpha / 127.0;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Parses a hexadecimal color string like '#abc' or '#aabbcc'.
+   *
+   * @param string $hex
+   *   The hexadecimal colorstring to parse.
+   * @param bool $allow_alpha
+   *   Optional. Whether or not to allow an alpha component. Defaults to FALSE.
+   *
+   * @return false|Drupal\Core\Utility\Color
+   *   The color object representation of the string or FALSE, if the string is
+   *   invalid.
+   */
+  public static function parseHex($hex, $allow_alpha = FALSE) {
+    $hex = ltrim($hex, '#');
+
+    // Expand shorthands like 'abc' to 'aabbcc'.
+    if (strlen($hex) < 4) {
+      $hex = preg_replace('|([0-9a-f])|i', '\1\1', $hex);
+    }
+
+    if (!preg_match('/^([0-9a-f]{2})([0-9a-f]{2})([0-9a-f]{2})([0-7][0-9a-f])?$/i', $hex, $rgba)) {
+      return FALSE;
+    }
+
+    if (!$allow_alpha && isset($rgba[4])) {
+      return FALSE;
+    }
+
+    return new Color(hexdec($rgba[1]), hexdec($rgba[2]), hexdec($rgba[3]), isset($rgba[4]) ? hexdec($rgba[4]) : 0);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/core/modules/system/tests/common.test b/core/modules/system/tests/common.test
index e20f874..46b379e 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/tests/common.test
+++ b/core/modules/system/tests/common.test
@@ -2050,67 +2050,6 @@ class CommonValidNumberStepUnitTestCase extends DrupalUnitTestCase {
 }
 
 /**
- * Tests color conversion functions.
- */
-class CommonColorConversionTestCase extends DrupalUnitTestCase {
-  public static function getInfo() {
-    return array(
-      'name' => 'Color conversion',
-      'description' => 'Tests color conversion by drupal_hex_to_rgba() and drupal_rgba_to_hex()',
-      'group' => 'Common',
-    );
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Tests drupal_hex_to_rgba().
-   */
-  function testDrupalHexToRGBA() {
-    // Test shorthand conversion without alpha.
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#000'), array('red' => 0, 'green' => 0, 'blue' => 0, 'alpha' => 0));
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#fff'), array('red' => 255, 'green' => 255, 'blue' => 255, 'alpha' => 0));
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#abc'), array('red' => 170, 'green' => 187, 'blue' => 204, 'alpha' => 0));
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_hex_to_rgba('cba'), array('red' => 204, 'green' => 187, 'blue' => 170, 'alpha' => 0));
-
-    // Test shorthand conversion with alpha.
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#0007', TRUE), array('red' => 0, 'green' => 0, 'blue' => 0, 'alpha' => 119));
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#7001', TRUE), array('red' => 119, 'green' => 0, 'blue' => 0, 'alpha' => 17));
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_hex_to_rgba('2000', TRUE), array('red' => 34, 'green' => 0, 'blue' => 0, 'alpha' => 0));
-
-    // Test conversion without alpha.
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#000000'), array('red' => 0, 'green' => 0, 'blue' => 0, 'alpha' => 0));
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#010203'), array('red' => 1, 'green' => 2, 'blue' => 3, 'alpha' => 0));
-
-    // Test too high alpha values.
-    $this->assertIdentical(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#0008', TRUE), FALSE);
-    $this->assertIdentical(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#a00f', TRUE), FALSE);
-    $this->assertIdentical(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#aa00aaf1', TRUE), FALSE);
-
-    // Test alpha values are invalid if they are not allowed.
-    $this->assertIdentical(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#1111'), FALSE);
-    $this->assertIdentical(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#22334455'), FALSE);
-    $this->assertIdentical(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#0000'), FALSE);
-
-    // Test bogus input.
-    $this->assertIdentical(drupal_hex_to_rgba('#foo'), FALSE);
-    $this->assertIdentical(drupal_hex_to_rgba('123456789'), FALSE);
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Tests drupal_rgba_to_hex().
-   */
-  function testDrupalRGBAToHex() {
-    // Test conversion without alpha.
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_rgba_to_hex(array('red' => 7)), '#070000');
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_rgba_to_hex(array('green' => 255)), '#00ff00');
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_rgba_to_hex(array('red' => 1, 'green' => 2, 'blue' => 3)), '#010203');
-
-    // Test conversion with alpha.
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_rgba_to_hex(array('alpha' => 10)), '#0000000a');
-    $this->assertEqual(drupal_rgba_to_hex(array('green' => 15, 'alpha' => 3)), '#000f0003');
-  }
-}
-
-/**
  * Tests writing of data records with drupal_write_record().
  */
 class CommonDrupalWriteRecordTestCase extends DrupalWebTestCase {