Black Color

About black

#000000 is black in every web color format: red, green and blue are all 0. On a screen it means the pixel emits as little light as the display allows.

In print the simple CMYK conversion is 100 % black ink (K) only. For large solid areas, printers often use a “rich black” that adds cyan, magenta and yellow under the black for a deeper result — ask your print shop for the recipe they recommend.

#000000 is the value of the CSS named color black, defined in the CSS Color specification and identical in every browser.

Other colors called black

• Near-black #121212A common dark-mode background.Copy

Black shades and tints

Black cannot get any darker, so it has no shades. Its tints — mixes with white — are the grays between black and white. Click a swatch to copy its HEX code.

Colors that go with black

Black is a neutral with no hue, so it has no complementary or triadic colors of its own. Neutrals go with almost any color — pick an accent in the color wheel or the palette generator.

Black contrast and readability

On a black background, white text reads best (21.00:1). Here is how black works as a text color:

Black on white gives the maximum contrast of 21:1. Dark themes usually avoid pure black backgrounds and use a near-black such as #121212, which reduces the harsh contrast and smearing on some screens.

Using black in CSS and HTML

:root {
  --color-black: #000000;
}

.highlight {
  background-color: var(--color-black);
}

.banner {
  background-color: black;
  color: #ffffff;
}

.label {
  color: #000000;
  border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);
}

<p style="background-color: #000000; color: #FFFFFF;">
  Black background
</p>