Red Color Codes
The color code of Red is Hex #FF0000, RGB rgb(255, 0, 0), HSL hsl(0, 100%, 50%) and HSB 0°, 100%, 100%. Red is one of the three additive primaries. A screen makes it by turning the red channel fully on and leaving the other two off. There are more red shades than any one list can hold. The 69 named below each come with a full code set you can copy for design and color grading work.
The family
Different Shades of Red
There are 69 named shades of red 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 Red?
The Red 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 red. They differ in what they make easy to change.
What Is the Hex Code for Red?
The hex code for Red is #FF0000. 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 #FF0000 the red pair is highest at FF and the blue pair is lowest at 00.
What Is the RGB Code for Red?
The RGB code for Red is rgb(255, 0, 0). RGB counts each channel from 0 to 255. The gap between the strongest and the weakest channel is 255, and that gap is the whole of the color. Close the gap and you get grey.
What Is the HSL / HSB Code for Red?
The HSL code for Red is hsl(0, 100%, 50%) and the HSB code is 0°, 100%, 100%. The hue of 0 degrees is the position on the color wheel, and this family runs from 345°–12°. 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 Red?
The CMYK code for Red is 0%, 100%, 100%, 0%. CMYK is for print rather than screens. A screen adds light to make color. Ink takes light away. A red 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 Red Mean?
Red means urgency and importance in most of the places you meet it. Stop signs, warning labels, sale tags and error messages all use it for the same reason. It is the color the eye reaches first. The reading is not fixed everywhere. In China red is the color of luck and celebration and it is worn at weddings. In finance it marks a loss. How much of that a shade carries depends on how strong it is. Bright Red holds the most chroma here at 178. Misty Rose holds the least at 17, and reads as barely tinted by comparison.
Lightest & Darkest Shades of Red
The lightest shade of red is Misty Rose at #FFE4E1. The darkest is Oxblood at #4A0000. 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 Red 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 69 shades on this page, 38 are dark enough to carry white text at AA. The questions below cover the cases people ask about most.
Which Red Looks Most Professional for Designs?
Barn Red at #7C0A02 is the safest professional pick, with white text on it reaching 11.05:1. 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 Red Shade Increases Attention the Most?
Bright Red at #FF000D draws the most attention. It carries the highest chroma of any shade here at 178, 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 only reaches 3.99:1, so use it for the thing you want noticed and not for the thing you want read.
Which Red Should I Use for a Buy / CTA Button?
Use Spanish Red at #E60026. White text on it scores 4.78:1, which passes AA for button labels. The brighter shades fail that test. Bright Red only reaches 3.99:1 with white on top, so a button in that color has a label people have to squint at. You get the attention and lose the click.
Red color tools
Convert Red Color Codes (Hex, RGB, HSL)
Have a red value in one format and need it in another? Paste #FF0000 in and you get rgb(255, 0, 0) back, and the result updates as you type. These three cover the jobs that come up most.
#FF0000→rgb(255, 0, 0)
Hex to RGB
Paste a hex, get the three channels
255, 0, 0→#FF0000
RGB to Hex
Go the other way for CSS
#FF0000→hsl(0, 100%, 50%)
Hex to HSL
For adjusting a shade by hand
Find the Red 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 red in a product shot or a competitor button.
#E60026
Image Color Picker
Click any pixel in a photo to read its hex
Spanish Red
Color Name Finder
Give it a value, get the closest named red
Build a Red Color Palette
Start from #FF0000, or from any of the 69 shades above. The palette tool pulls colors out of an image. The gradient tool blends two values into a run, and #FFE4E1 to #4A0000 covers this family end to end. The shades and tints tool takes one value and gives you a full scale from it.