I came across this problem since I wanted to accept any color value and be able to add an opacity, so I made this quick jQuery plugin that uses the native canvas on modern browsers. Seems to work just great.

Edit

Turns out I can't figure out how to make it a proper jQuery plugin, so I'll just present it as a regular function.

//accepts any value like '#ffffff', 'rgba(255,255,255,1)', 'hsl(0,100%,100%)', or 'white'
function toRGBA( c ) {
    var
        can  = document.createElement( 'canvas' ),
        ctx  = can.getContext( '2d' );
    can.width = can.height = 1;
    ctx.fillStyle = c;
    console.log( ctx.fillStyle ); //always css 6 digit hex color string, e.g. '#ffffff'
    ctx.fillRect( 0, 0, 1, 1 ); //paint the canvas
    var
        img  = ctx.getImageData( 0, 0, 1, 1 ),
        data = img.data,
        rgba = {
            r: data[ 0 ], //0-255 red
            g: data[ 1 ], //0-255 green
            b: data[ 2 ], //0-255 blue
            a: data[ 3 ]  //0-255 opacity (0 being transparent, 255 being opaque)
        };
    return rgba;
};

I came across this problem since I wanted to parse any color string value and be able to specify an opacity, so I wrote this function that uses the canvas API.

var toRGBA = function () {
  var canvas = document.createElement('canvas');
  var context = canvas.getContext('2d');

  canvas.width = 1;
  canvas.height = 1;

  return function (color) {
    context.fillStyle = color;
    context.fillRect(0, 0, 1, 1);

    var data = context.getImageData(0, 0, 1, 1).data;

    return {
      r: data[0],
      g: data[1],
      b: data[2],
      a: data[3]
    };
  };
}();

Note about context.fillStyle:

If parsing the value results in failure, then it must be ignored, and the attribute must retain its previous value.

Here's a Stack Snippet demo you can use to test inputs:

var toRGBA = function () {
  var canvas = document.createElement('canvas');
  var context = canvas.getContext('2d');

  canvas.width = 1;
  canvas.height = 1;

  return function (color) {
    context.fillStyle = color;
    context.fillRect(0, 0, 1, 1);

    var data = context.getImageData(0, 0, 1, 1).data;

    return {
      r: data[0],
      g: data[1],
      b: data[2],
      a: data[3]
    };
  };
}();

var inputs = document.getElementsByTagName('input');

function setColor() {
  inputs[1].value = JSON.stringify(toRGBA(inputs[0].value));
  document.body.style.backgroundColor = inputs[0].value;
}

inputs[0].addEventListener('input', setColor);
setColor();

input {
  width: 200px;
  margin: 0.5rem;
}

<input value="cyan" />
<input readonly="readonly" />

I came across this problem since I wanted to accept any color value and be able to add an opacity, so I made this quick jQuery plugin that uses the native canvas on modern browsers. Seems to work just great:

//accepts any value like '#ffffff', 'rgba(255,255,255,1)', 'hsl(0,100%,100%)', or 'white'
$.fn.toRGBA = function( c ) {
    var
        can  = $( '<canvas width=\'1\' height=\'1\'/>' )[0],
        ctx  = can.getContext( '2d' );
    ctx.fillStyle = c;
    console.log( ctx.fillStyle ); //always css 6 digit hex color string, e.g. '#ffffff'
    ctx.fillRect( 0, 0, 1, 1 ); //paint the canvas
    var
        img  = ctx.getImageData( 0, 0, 1, 1 ),
        data = img.data,
        rgba = {
            r: data[ 0 ], //0-255 red
            g: data[ 1 ], //0-255 green
            b: data[ 2 ], //0-255 blue
            a: data[ 3 ]  //0-255 opacity (0 being transparent, 255 being opaque)
        };
    return rgba;
};

I came across this problem since I wanted to accept any color value and be able to add an opacity, so I made this quick jQuery plugin that uses the native canvas on modern browsers. Seems to work just great.

Edit

Turns out I can't figure out how to make it a proper jQuery plugin, so I'll just present it as a regular function.

//accepts any value like '#ffffff', 'rgba(255,255,255,1)', 'hsl(0,100%,100%)', or 'white'
function toRGBA( c ) {
    var
        can  = document.createElement( 'canvas' ),
        ctx  = can.getContext( '2d' );
    can.width = can.height = 1;
    ctx.fillStyle = c;
    console.log( ctx.fillStyle ); //always css 6 digit hex color string, e.g. '#ffffff'
    ctx.fillRect( 0, 0, 1, 1 ); //paint the canvas
    var
        img  = ctx.getImageData( 0, 0, 1, 1 ),
        data = img.data,
        rgba = {
            r: data[ 0 ], //0-255 red
            g: data[ 1 ], //0-255 green
            b: data[ 2 ], //0-255 blue
            a: data[ 3 ]  //0-255 opacity (0 being transparent, 255 being opaque)
        };
    return rgba;
};