diff --git a/http-api/src/main/java/net/runelite/http/api/gson/ColorTypeAdapter.java b/http-api/src/main/java/net/runelite/http/api/gson/ColorTypeAdapter.java
index 6f4b003df0..feec0f6d66 100644
--- a/http-api/src/main/java/net/runelite/http/api/gson/ColorTypeAdapter.java
+++ b/http-api/src/main/java/net/runelite/http/api/gson/ColorTypeAdapter.java
@@ -43,10 +43,7 @@ public class ColorTypeAdapter extends TypeAdapter<Color>
 		}
 
 		int rgba = value.getRGB();
-		out.beginObject()
-			.name("value")
-			.value(rgba)
-			.endObject();
+		out.value(String.format("#%08X", rgba));
 	}
 
 	@Override
@@ -57,7 +54,18 @@ public class ColorTypeAdapter extends TypeAdapter<Color>
 			case NULL:
 				in.nextNull();
 				return null;
+			case STRING:
+			{
+				String value = in.nextString();
+				if (value.charAt(0) == '#')
+				{
+					value = value.substring(1);
+				}
+				int intValue = Integer.parseUnsignedInt(value, 16);
+				return new Color(intValue, true);
+			}
 			case BEGIN_OBJECT:
+			{
 				in.beginObject();
 				double value = 0;
 				while (in.peek() != JsonToken.END_OBJECT)
@@ -74,6 +82,7 @@ public class ColorTypeAdapter extends TypeAdapter<Color>
 				}
 				in.endObject();
 				return new Color((int) value, true);
+			}
 		}
 		return null; // throws
 	}
diff --git a/http-api/src/test/java/net/runelite/http/api/gson/ColorTypeAdapterTest.java b/http-api/src/test/java/net/runelite/http/api/gson/ColorTypeAdapterTest.java
index d7f5e6fd4c..0fe0b2226a 100644
--- a/http-api/src/test/java/net/runelite/http/api/gson/ColorTypeAdapterTest.java
+++ b/http-api/src/test/java/net/runelite/http/api/gson/ColorTypeAdapterTest.java
@@ -34,17 +34,24 @@ public class ColorTypeAdapterTest
 	@Test
 	public void test()
 	{
-		test("null", null);
-		test("{\"value\":-13347208,\"falpha\":0.0}", new Color(0x12345678, false));
-		test("{\"value\":305419896,\"falpha\":0.0}", new Color(0x12345678, true));
-		test("{\"value\":-1.4221317E7,\"falpha\":0.0}", new Color(0xFF26FFFB, true));
+		test("null", null, true);
+		test("{\"value\":-13347208,\"falpha\":0.0}", new Color(0x12345678, false), false);
+		test("{\"value\":305419896,\"falpha\":0.0}", new Color(0x12345678, true), false);
+		test("{\"value\":-1.4221317E7,\"falpha\":0.0}", new Color(0xFF26FFFB, true), false);
+		test("\"#FF345678\"", new Color(0x12345678, false), true);
+		test("\"#12345678\"", new Color(0x12345678, true), true);
+		test("\"#FF26FFFB\"", new Color(0xFF26FFFB, true), true);
 	}
 
-	private void test(String json, Color object)
+	private void test(String json, Color object, boolean exactEncoding)
 	{
 		Color parsed = RuneLiteAPI.GSON.fromJson(json, Color.class);
 		Assert.assertEquals(object, parsed);
 		String serialized = RuneLiteAPI.GSON.toJson(object);
+		if (exactEncoding)
+		{
+			Assert.assertEquals(json, serialized);
+		}
 		Color roundTripped = RuneLiteAPI.GSON.fromJson(serialized, Color.class);
 		Assert.assertEquals(object, roundTripped);
 	}