Dark Gray Color Codes

Dark Gray is a mid-tone neutral grey with the hex code #A9A9A9, RGB values of 169, 169, 169 and an HSL value of hsl(0, 0%, 66%).

HEX	#A9A9A9
RGB	169, 169, 169
HSL	hsl(0, 0%, 66%)
HSV	0°, 0%, 66%
CMYK	0%, 0%, 0%, 34%
LAB	69.24, -0.00, 0.00
CIELCHuv	69.24, 0.00, 146.36°

Nearest Pantone: PMS 429 C ΔE 3.4 · approximate
Nearest CSS name: darkgray ΔE 0.0

Source CSS Color Module Level 4 keyword 'DarkGray'

Dark Gray Color Hex Code

The Dark Gray color hex code is #A9A9A9. Those six digits are three pairs, A9 for red, A9 for green and A9 for blue, which is the same triplet a browser reads from the CSS value below.

#A9A9A9

Dark Gray Color RGB Code

The Dark Gray RGB code is rgb(169, 169, 169). Red carries the most light at 169 of 255, which is what puts this color where it sits on the wheel.

rgb(169, 169, 169)

Dark Gray Color HSV Code

The Dark Gray HSV code is 0°, 0%, 66%. Read it as a hue of 0 degrees, 0% saturation and 66% value, which is the form most color pickers use because moving one number changes one thing.

0°, 0%, 66%

Dark Gray Color CIELChuv Code

The Dark Gray CIELCHuv code is 69.24, 0.00, 146.36°. Unlike hex or RGB this one is perceptual: lightness 69 means light to the eye rather than to the screen, and chroma 0 is how far it sits from grey.

69.24, 0.00, 146.36°

Tonal scale

What are Dark Gray Color Palettes?

A shade mixes toward black, a tint toward white, a tone toward grey. Every step keeps the hue and is copy-ready.

Shades, toward black

Tints, toward white

Tones, toward grey

Open in the shades & tints generator →

Palettes

What are Dark Gray Color Palette Codes?

Each of these is a hue rotation from #A9A9A9. They are generated, not curated, so they are exact.

Complementary

Directly opposite sits #A9A9A9, a mid-tone neutral grey. No other pairing separates two hues further, so this is the one to reach for when a single element has to win attention. Neither is especially saturated, so this pairing stays calm enough for large areas of both.

Analogous

#A9A9A9 and #A9A9A9 sit 30 degrees either side. All three share most of their hue, so the set reads as one family instead of three separate decisions. Good for backgrounds and for state variations that should not announce themselves.

Triadic

#A9A9A9 and #A9A9A9 complete an even 120 degree split. Three fully independent hues, so one has to lead: keep this base dominant and let the other two appear in small quantities.

Split-complementary

Instead of the direct complement, this takes the two hues either side of it: #A9A9A9 and #A9A9A9. Almost the same contrast, without the edge shimmer a true complementary pair produces at high saturation.

Tetradic

Two complementary pairs forming a rectangle: this base with #A9A9A9, and #A9A9A9 with #A9A9A9. The richest of the five and the hardest to balance, so treat the darkest of the four as the lead and hold the other three well back.

See these on the color wheel →

Accessibility

Measured against white and against black, with a separate verdict for each element type. Small text, large text and UI components have different thresholds, so one pass or fail for the whole color would be wrong roughly a third of the time.

White background

2.35:1

2.35

contrast ratio on white background

Element	AA	AAA
Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1	Fails	Fails
Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1	Fails	Fails
UI component needs 3:1	Fails	n/a

Black background

8.94:1

8.94

contrast ratio on black background

Element	AA	AAA
Small text needs 4.5:1 / 7:1	Passes	Passes
Large text needs 3:1 / 4.5:1	Passes	Passes
UI component needs 3:1	Passes	n/a

At 2.35:1 against white, Dark Gray is a fill color rather than a text color. Use it for surfaces, borders and large display type, and set the copy in ink. Text placed on it should be black, which gives 8.94:1. With very little saturation it behaves as a neutral, which makes it a good background or a supporting tone alongside a stronger accent.

Check Dark Gray against another color →

Color vision

How Dark Gray looks with color blindness

Around 300 million people see color differently from the way it is specified. Each card shows the actual color beside how it appears, and how common that form of vision is.

Protanopia

About 1% of men

actual

#A9A9A9

Dark Gray holds up almost unchanged here. ΔE 0.0

No working red cones. Reds darken sharply and drift toward the same muddy olive as green.

Deuteranopia

About 1% of men

actual

#A9A9A9

Dark Gray holds up almost unchanged here. ΔE 0.0

No working green cones. With the milder deuteranomaly at nearer 6% of men, this is by far the most common form, and the one worth designing around.

Tritanopia

About 1 in 10,000

actual

#A9A9A9

Dark Gray holds up almost unchanged here. ΔE 0.0

No working blue cones. Blues shift toward green and yellows toward pink. Rare, and unlike the others it is not sex-linked, so it affects men and women equally.

Achromatopsia

About 1 in 30,000

actual

#A9A9A9

Dark Gray holds up almost unchanged here. ΔE 0.0

No color vision at all. Also a fair proxy for how the color survives a greyscale print or a failing screen.

Dark Gray is stable under the common forms of color blindness: to a deuteranope it reads as #A9A9A9, a shift of only ΔE 0.0, which is close to imperceptible. The widest shift is under protanopia, at ΔE 0.0. The rule this leads to needs no simulator: never let color be the only thing carrying a message. Add a label, an icon, or a clear difference in lightness, and the problem disappears for everyone.

Simulate a whole palette →

Snippets

Using Dark Gray in code

:root {
  --dark-gray: #A9A9A9;
}

.example {
  color: var(--dark-gray);
}

// tailwind.config.js
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      'dark-gray': '#A9A9A9',
    },
  },
}

// SwiftUI takes 0–1 components, not 0–255.
let darkGray = Color(
    red: 0.663,
    green: 0.663,
    blue: 0.663
)

<!-- res/values/colors.xml -->
<color name="dark_gray">#A9A9A9</color>

// Flutter wants ARGB: FF for full opacity, then the hex.
const darkGray = Color(0xFFA9A9A9);

Meaning

What is the Meaning of Dark Gray Color?

Dark Gray reads as quiet. It is muted enough to work as a background rather than a signal, and at 0% saturation with a perceptual lightness of 69 it behaves as a neutral color, which is the practical reason it turns up where it does.

What are Other Names of Dark Gray Color?

In CSS you can write DarkGray instead of the hex and get the same color: the two are 0.0 apart, which no eye resolves. For print the nearest Pantone is PMS 429 C at #ADAFAA. The name Dark Gray comes from the community color-name index rather than a standards body, so you will meet it under other names elsewhere.

How is Dark Gray Color Made?

On a screen Dark Gray is made by additive light: 169 red, 169 green and 169 blue out of 255, with red leading and 169 as the floor. In print it is subtractive instead, mixed as 0%, 0%, 0%, 34%. Starting from the pure hue at 0 degrees, Dark Gray is a tone, so it is that hue knocked back with grey.