diff --git a/bioframe/vis.py b/bioframe/vis.py
index 33c40e8d..7db79ebd 100644
--- a/bioframe/vis.py
+++ b/bioframe/vis.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
+from typing import Union
 import itertools
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
 
-import matplotlib
+from matplotlib.colors import to_rgb
+import matplotlib as mpl
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 
 from .core import arrops
@@ -10,7 +12,51 @@
 DEFAULT_FACECOLOR = "skyblue"
 DEFAULT_EDGECOLOR = "dimgray"
 
-__all__ = ["plot_intervals"]
+__all__ = ["plot_intervals", "to_ucsc_colorstring"]
+
+
+def to_ucsc_colorstring(color: Union[str, tuple]) -> str:
+    """
+    Convert any matplotlib color identifier into a UCSC itemRgb color string.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    color : str or tuple
+        Any valid matplotlib color representation (e.g. 'red', 'tomato', 
+        '#ff0000', '#ff00', "#ff000055", (1, 0, 0), (1, 0, 0, 0.5))
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    str
+        A UCSC itemRgb colorstring of the form "r,g,b" where r, g, and b are
+        integers between 0 and 255, inclusive.
+
+    Notes
+    -----
+    The alpha (opacity) channel is ignored if represented in the input. 
+    
+    Null values are converted to "0", which is shorthand for "0,0,0" (black). 
+    Note that BED9+ files with uninformative itemRgb values should use "0" as 
+    the itemRgb value on every data line.
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+    >>> to_ucsc_colorstring("red")
+    '255,0,0'
+    >>> to_ucsc_colorstring("tomato")
+    '255,99,71'
+    >>> df["itemRgb"] = df["color"].apply(to_ucsc_colorstring)
+    >>> df
+    chrom  start  end  color  itemRgb
+    chr1   0      10   red    255,0,0
+    chr1   10     20   blue   0,0,255
+    chr2   0      10   green  0,128,0
+    chr2   10     20   None   0
+    """
+    if pd.isnull(color):
+        return "0"
+    else:
+        return ",".join(str(int(x*255)) for x in to_rgb(color))
 
 
 def _plot_interval(
@@ -21,7 +67,7 @@ def _plot_interval(
 
     ax = plt.gca() if ax is None else ax
     ax.add_patch(
-        matplotlib.patches.Rectangle(
+        mpl.patches.Rectangle(
             (start, level - height / 2),
             end - start,
             height,
diff --git a/tests/test_vis.py b/tests/test_vis.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..99dcf866
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_vis.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import bioframe
+import numpy as np
+import pandas as pd
+
+import pytest
+
+
+def test_to_ucsc_colorstring():
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("red") == "255,0,0"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("blue") == "0,0,255"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("green") == "0,128,0"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("black") == "0,0,0"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("white") == "255,255,255"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("r") == "255,0,0"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("tomato") == "255,99,71"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("xkcd:sky blue") == "135,206,235"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("#abc") == "170,187,204"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("#ff0000") == "255,0,0"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("#ff000055") == "255,0,0"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring((1, 0, 0)) == "255,0,0"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring((1, 0, 0, 0.5)) == "255,0,0"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring((0, 0, 1)) == "0,0,255"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring(None) == "0"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("none") == "0"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring(np.nan) == "0"
+    bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring(pd.NA) == "0"
+    
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring("notacolor")
+    
+    df = bioframe.from_any([
+        ["chr1", 0, 10, "red"],
+        ["chr1", 10, 20, "blue"],
+        ["chr2", 0, 10, "green"],
+        ["chr2", 10, 20, None],
+    ])
+    df["itemRgb"] = df["name"].apply(bioframe.to_ucsc_colorstring)
+    assert df["itemRgb"].tolist() == ["255,0,0", "0,0,255", "0,128,0", "0"]