Amber Color Codes
Amber is a light, vivid amber with the hex code #FFBF00, RGB values of 255, 191, 0 and an HSL value of hsl(45, 100%, 50%).
| HEX | #FFBF00 |
|---|---|
| RGB | 255, 191, 0 |
| HSL | hsl(45, 100%, 50%) |
| HSV | 45°, 100%, 100% |
| CMYK | 0%, 25%, 100%, 0% |
| LAB | 81.03, 10.39, 83.03 |
| CIELCHuv | 81.03, 99.18, 57.15° |
- Nearest Pantone
- PMS 123 C ΔE 4.6 · approximate
- Nearest CSS name
-
goldΔE 14.3
Source Wikipedia, List of colors (cites RGB color model)
Amber Color Hex Code
The Amber color hex code is #FFBF00. Those six digits are three pairs, FF for red, BF for green and 00 for blue, which is the same triplet a browser reads from the CSS value below.
#FFBF00
Amber Color RGB Code
The Amber RGB code is rgb(255, 191, 0). Red carries the most light at 255 of 255, which is what puts this color where it sits on the wheel.
rgb(255, 191, 0)
Amber Color HSV Code
The Amber HSV code is 45°, 100%, 100%. Read it as a hue of 45 degrees, 100% saturation and 100% value, which is the form most color pickers use because moving one number changes one thing.
45°, 100%, 100%
Amber Color CIELChuv Code
The Amber CIELCHuv code is 81.03, 99.18, 57.15°. Unlike hex or RGB this one is perceptual: lightness 81 means light to the eye rather than to the screen, and chroma 99 is how far it sits from grey.
81.03, 99.18, 57.15°
Tonal scale
What are Amber 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
Palettes
What are Amber Color Palette Codes?
Each of these is a hue rotation from #FFBF00. They are generated, not curated, so they are exact.
Complementary
Directly opposite sits #0040FF, a dark, vivid azure blue. No other pairing separates two hues further, so this is the one to reach for when a single element has to win attention. Both are saturated, so give the complement much less area than the base or the two will fight.
Analogous
#FF4000 and #C0FF00 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
#00FFBF and #BF00FF 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: #00C0FF and #4000FF. 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 #0040FF, and #00FF40 with #FF00C0. The richest of the five and the hardest to balance, so treat this base as the lead and hold the other three well back.
Accessibility
Contrast checker: is Amber accessible?
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
1.65:11.65
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
12.70:112.70
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 1.65:1 against white, Amber 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 12.70:1. It is a highly saturated color, so it will dominate anything it sits beside. Give it space rather than surrounding it with other strong colors.
Color vision
How Amber 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#E6E663
Amber changes substantially here. ΔE 34.9
No working red cones. Reds darken sharply and drift toward the same muddy olive as green.
Deuteranopia
About 1% of men#EAEE6E
Amber changes substantially here. ΔE 37.8
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#FC8388
Amber changes substantially here. ΔE 74.9
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#C9C9C9
Amber changes substantially here. ΔE 83.7
No color vision at all. Also a fair proxy for how the color survives a greyscale print or a failing screen.
To a deuteranope, the most common form, Amber reads as #EAEE6E. That is a shift of ΔE 37.8, so it is a different color to roughly one man in sixteen. The widest shift is under tritanopia, at ΔE 74.9. 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.
Snippets
Using Amber in code
:root {
--amber: #FFBF00;
}
.example {
color: var(--amber);
}// tailwind.config.js
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'amber': '#FFBF00',
},
},
}// SwiftUI takes 0–1 components, not 0–255.
let amber = Color(
red: 1.000,
green: 0.749,
blue: 0.000
)<!-- res/values/colors.xml -->
<color name="amber">#FFBF00</color>// Flutter wants ARGB: FF for full opacity, then the hex.
const amber = Color(0xFFFFBF00);