Brown Color Codes
The color code of Brown is Hex #8B4513, RGB rgb(139, 69, 19), HSL hsl(25, 76%, 31%) and HSB 25°, 86%, 55%. Brown is a darkened mix rather than a pure hue. Red leads at 139 of 255 and nothing reaches the top of the scale, which is what keeps it low and heavy. There are more brown shades than any one list can hold. The 29 named below each come with a full code set you can copy for design and color grading work.
The family
Different Shades of Brown
There are 29 named shades of brown 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 Brown?
The Brown color code has four screen formats and one print format. The screen ones are Hex, RGB, HSL and HSB. The print one is CMYK. All five describe the same brown. They differ in what they make easy to change.
What Is the Hex Code for Brown?
The hex code for Brown is #8B4513. 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. In #8B4513 the red pair is highest at 8B and the blue pair is lowest at 13.
What Is the RGB Code for Brown?
The RGB code for Brown is rgb(139, 69, 19). RGB counts each channel from 0 to 255. The gap between the strongest and the weakest channel is 120, and that gap is the whole of the color. Close the gap and you get grey.
What Is the HSL / HSB Code for Brown?
The HSL code for Brown is hsl(25, 76%, 31%) and the HSB code is 25°, 86%, 55%. The hue of 25 degrees is the position on the color wheel, and this family runs from orange and red hues below 45% lightness. 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 Brown?
The CMYK code for Brown is 0%, 50%, 86%, 45%. CMYK is for print rather than screens. A screen adds light to make color. Ink takes light away. A brown this strong is one of the colors that suffers most in the move, because ink cannot reach the brightness a backlit screen can. Ask a printer for a Pantone reference on anything that has to match exactly.
What Does the Color Brown Mean?
Brown reads as natural and dependable. Coffee, leather, wood and packaging all use it, and it is the usual choice for anything that wants to look made rather than manufactured. It is not a spectral color. There is no brown in a rainbow. It is what a dark, low-saturation orange looks like in context. How much of that a shade carries depends on how strong it is. Mahogany holds the most chroma here at 111. Beige holds the least at 19, and reads as barely tinted by comparison.
Lightest & Darkest Shades of Brown
The lightest shade of brown is Beige at #F5F5DC. The darkest is Dark Brown at #654321. 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 Brown 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. Of the 29 shades on this page, 10 are dark enough to carry white text at AA. The questions below cover the cases people ask about most.
Which Brown Looks Most Professional for Designs?
Red Brown at #A52A2F is the safest professional pick, with white text on it reaching 7.07:1. It is deep rather than bright, which is what makes it read as considered instead of loud. The most saturated shades further up this page look cheaper at large sizes.
Which Brown Shade Increases Attention the Most?
Mahogany at #C04000 draws the most attention. It carries the highest chroma of any shade here at 111, 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 5.28:1, so unusually for a family's boldest shade you can use it and still label it.
Which Brown Should I Use for a Buy / CTA Button?
Use Mahogany at #C04000. White text on it scores 5.28:1, which passes AA for button labels. Brown is the rare family where the boldest shade is also safe: Mahogany clears AA at 5.28:1, so you do not have to trade attention for legibility here.
Brown color tools
Convert Brown Color Codes (Hex, RGB, HSL)
Have a brown value in one format and need it in another? Paste #8B4513 in and you get rgb(139, 69, 19) back, and the result updates as you type. These three cover the jobs that come up most.
#8B4513→rgb(139, 69, 19)
Hex to RGB
Paste a hex, get the three channels
139, 69, 19→#8B4513
RGB to Hex
Go the other way for CSS
#8B4513→hsl(25, 76%, 31%)
Hex to HSL
For adjusting a shade by hand
Find the Brown 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 brown in wood, leather or coffee, none of which is one flat color.
#C04000
Image Color Picker
Click any pixel in a photo to read its hex
Mahogany
Color Name Finder
Give it a value, get the closest named brown
Build a Brown Color Palette
Start from #8B4513, or from any of the 29 shades above. The palette tool pulls colors out of an image. The gradient tool blends two values into a run, and #F5F5DC to #654321 covers this family end to end. The shades and tints tool takes one value and gives you a full scale from it.