Black Color Codes
The color code of Black is Hex #000000, RGB rgb(0, 0, 0), HSL hsl(0, 0%, 0%) and HSB 0°, 0%, 0%. Black is what a screen shows with every channel switched off. It is the absence of light rather than a color in its own right. There are more black shades than any one list can hold. The 17 named below each come with a full code set you can copy for design and color grading work.
The family
Different Shades of Black
There are 17 named shades of black here. Each one links to its own page with the full code set. Click any swatch to copy its hex.
What Is the Color Code for Black?
The Black color code has four screen formats and one print format. The screen ones are Hex, RGB, HSL and HSB. The print one is CMYK. Because there is no hue here, three of the five barely differ from one another.
What Is the Hex Code for Black?
The hex code for Black is #000000. Hex is the format you use in CSS and in most design tools. The first two digits set red, the next two set green and the last two set blue. All three pairs are the same, which is what makes it a neutral rather than a color.
What Is the RGB Code for Black?
The RGB code for Black is rgb(0, 0, 0). RGB counts each channel from 0 to 255. All three are equal, so there is no hue for the eye to pick up.
What Is the HSL / HSB Code for Black?
The HSL code for Black is hsl(0, 0%, 0%) and the HSB code is 0°, 0%, 0%. Saturation is near zero, so the hue number is along for the ride. Change it and nothing on screen moves. HSL and HSB are easier to adjust by hand than hex. Move the first number and you change the color. Move the others and you keep the color but change how strong or how light it is.
What Is the CMYK Code for Black?
The CMYK code for Black is 0%, 0%, 0%, 100%. CMYK is for print rather than screens. A screen adds light to make color. Ink takes light away. Colors in this range survive the move better than the saturated ones, which is worth knowing if the work has to exist on paper as well. Ask a printer for a Pantone reference on anything that has to match exactly.
What Does the Color Black Mean?
Black reads as formal and expensive. Luxury goods, fashion and premium packaging use it because it takes decoration out of the argument. In much of the West it is the color of mourning. In parts of East Asia that role belongs to white instead. How much of that a shade carries depends on how strong it is. Cool Black holds the most chroma here at 41. Eerie Black holds the least at 0, and reads as barely tinted by comparison.
Lightest & Darkest Shades of Black
The lightest shade of black is Dim Gray at #696969. The darkest is Licorice at #1A1110. Everything else on this page sits between those two. If you need a background, start from the light end. If you need text, start from the dark end.
Which Black Is Best for Branding & Design?
It depends what the color has to do. A logo can use any shade because it does not have to pass a contrast test. A button does, and here every one of the 17 shades clears AA with white text on it. That is unusual, and it is what makes this family the reliable one for anything carrying a label.
Which Black Looks Most Professional for Designs?
Licorice at #1A1110 is the safest professional pick, with white text on it reaching 18.56:1. Nothing in this family is loud enough to look cheap, so the choice here is about how much contrast you need rather than about restraint.
Which Black Shade Increases Attention the Most?
Cool Black at #002E63 draws the most attention. It carries the highest chroma of any shade here at 41, which is the measure of how far a color sits from grey, and that is what makes it hard to ignore. White text on it clears AA at 13.37:1, so unusually for a family's boldest shade you can use it and still label it.
Which Black Should I Use for a Buy / CTA Button?
Use Cool Black at #002E63. White text on it scores 13.37:1, which passes AA for button labels. Black is the rare family where the boldest shade is also safe: Cool Black clears AA at 13.37:1, so you do not have to trade attention for legibility here.
Black color tools
Convert Black Color Codes (Hex, RGB, HSL)
Have a black value in one format and need it in another? Paste #000000 in and you get rgb(0, 0, 0) back, and the result updates as you type. These three cover the jobs that come up most.
#000000→rgb(0, 0, 0)
Hex to RGB
Paste a hex, get the three channels
0, 0, 0→#000000
RGB to Hex
Go the other way for CSS
#000000→hsl(0, 0%, 0%)
Hex to HSL
For adjusting a shade by hand
Find the Black Hex Code in Any Image
Upload an image and click the part you want. The picker reads that exact pixel, which saves guessing at a black in a photograph, where what looks black is usually a very dark something else.
#002E63
Image Color Picker
Click any pixel in a photo to read its hex
Cool Black
Color Name Finder
Give it a value, get the closest named black
Build a Black Color Palette
Start from #000000, or from any of the 17 shades above. The palette tool pulls colors out of an image. The gradient tool blends two values into a run, and #696969 to #1A1110 covers this family end to end. The shades and tints tool takes one value and gives you a full scale from it.