Complementary
Two colors from opposite sides of the wheel. They make each other look more vivid, which is why the pairing is used for anything that needs to stand out.
Black screen
A black screen is a display filled edge to edge with pure black. It is used to find stuck or bright pixels, to check an LCD for backlight bleed and clouding, as a dark background for photography and film work, and to save power on OLED displays.
Quick colors, then fill the screen
Or a gradient
Or let it move
#000000rgb(0, 0, 0) · hsl(0, 0%, 0%)
- Finding stuck and always-on pixels
- Checking backlight bleed and clouding
- Reducing glare and eye strain in the dark
- Saving battery on OLED phones
Black color codes
Every value for #000000, ready to paste. Click any code to copy it.
| Channel | Decimal | Share | Hex | Octal | Binary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | 0 | 0% | 00 | 0 | 00000000 |
| Green | 0 | 0% | 00 | 0 | 00000000 |
| Blue | 0 | 0% | 00 | 0 | 00000000 |
The nearest web-safe color is #000000, from the 216-color palette browsers agreed on before displays could be trusted with more.
Shades, tints and tones
Every step is generated from #000000. Click a swatch to copy its hex.
Shades of black
A shade is the base color with black mixed in. Shades read as deeper and more dramatic, and they are what you reach for when a color needs to recede or carry weight.
Tints of black
A tint is the base color with white mixed in. Tints turn pastel as they lighten, which makes them useful for backgrounds and for anything that has to sit behind text.
Tones of black
A tone is the base color with grey mixed in. Tones lose the shout without losing the hue, and they are usually what separates a considered palette from a loud one.
The black scale
The same color as the 50 to 950 ladder every CSS framework uses, with #000000 at 500. Click a step to copy its hex, or take the whole scale as variables for a design system.
Color schemes built on black
Harmonies are positions on the color wheel rather than matters of taste, which is why they keep working across very different designs.
Analogous
Three neighbours on the wheel. Nothing competes, so the result reads calm and settled, closer to how colour behaves in nature.
Split complementary
The base plus the two colors either side of its complement. It keeps most of the contrast while being much easier to balance.
Triadic
Three colors spaced evenly around the wheel. Strong and lively, and usually best with one dominant color and two accents.
Tetradic
Two complementary pairs, forming a rectangle on the wheel. The richest scheme available, and the hardest to keep from shouting.
Monochromatic
One hue at different lightness levels. Effortlessly cohesive, and the safest way to build a palette around a brand color.
Colors close to #000000
Near neighbours, for when this color is almost right. Each one shifts hue, saturation or lightness by a small step.
Black color palettes
Five-color palettes built around #000000, each following a different scheme. Click any swatch to copy it, or open the generator to build your own.
Analogous
Complementary
Triadic
Monochromatic
Open the palette generator to lock the colors you like and regenerate the rest.
Contrast and readability
Whether black works as text, and what to put on top of it when it is the background. Ratios follow WCAG 2.1, where 4.5 is the bar for body text and 3 for large text.
Black text on white background
21:1 · ExcellentLarge text at 24 pixels
Body text at 16 pixels. A flat field of color removes every variable, which is what makes it useful for judging a display.
- Body AA
- Body AAA
- Large AA
- Large AAA
Black text on black background
1:1 · PoorLarge text at 24 pixels
Body text at 16 pixels. A flat field of color removes every variable, which is what makes it useful for judging a display.
- Body AA
- Body AAA
- Large AA
- Large AAA
Used the other way round, #000000 as a background takes #FFFFFF text. That is the higher-contrast of the two, and it is what the tool picks automatically for any chrome sitting on your color.
Black reads better on a white background of the two. Contrast is a property of the pair, not of one color, so a color that fails here can still be perfectly usable against a different partner.
About black
What this color does, where it works, and what it reveals about the screen showing it.
What black is
The absence of output, and the hardest thing for a display to produce convincingly. An OLED switches its pixels off entirely and reaches true black. An LCD cannot block its own backlight completely, so its black is really very dark grey. Put the two side by side and the difference is obvious immediately.
The hex code
Black is #000000, every channel at zero. It shortens to #000, since a browser expands three digits by doubling each one. In RGB that is 0, 0, 0, and in HSL it is 0, 0 percent, 0 percent. Worth knowing that the code describes intent rather than result: a display sent #000000 shows whatever its darkest state actually is, which on an LCD is a long way from nothing.
Where it works
Diagnostics first. Stuck pixels, backlight bleed and panel clouding all reveal themselves against black and almost nothing else. Beyond that it is a dark backdrop for photographing small objects, a low-power state for a phone left on, and a calm second monitor at night.
How it reads
Black reads as serious, premium and empty. A screen showing black looks off without being off, which is occasionally exactly what you want. During a presentation when attention should be on you, or when you want the room dark but the machine awake.
On a display
A stuck pixel is permanently lit and hides in normal content, but against pure black it is a bright star you cannot miss. Backlight bleed shows as pale glow at the edges, clouding as milky patches across the middle. If you are inside a return window on a new panel, this is the single most useful minute you can spend.
Battery and burn-in
On OLED and AMOLED, black pixels are switched off, so a black screen genuinely draws less power. On LCD the backlight runs regardless and the saving is close to zero. Black is also the safest thing to leave on an OLED for a long stretch, since nothing is being driven hard enough to age unevenly.
The other kind of black screen
If a device is showing black when it should not be, nothing in a browser tab will help. A genuine black-screen fault is usually a display cable, a backlight failure or a boot problem, and it needs the manufacturer rather than a color tool.
Common questions
- What is the hex code for black?
- The hex code for black is
- What is black in RGB?
- Black in RGB is 0, 0, 0, meaning none of the three channels is emitting anything. In CMYK it is 0, 0, 0, 100, where the last figure is the key or black ink. Print uses a dedicated black ink rather than mixing the other three, because mixing them gives a muddy brown and uses far more ink.
- How do I get a completely black screen?
- This page loads set to pure black, so press F or the Fill screen button and it covers the display with no interface remaining. Press Escape to come back.
- What is backlight bleed and how do I check for it?
- Backlight bleed is light leaking around the edges of an LCD panel, usually visible as pale patches or corner glow. Fill the screen with black in a dark room and look at the edges. A little is normal on almost every LCD. Large bright patches or streaks are a defect worth raising with the manufacturer.
- Does a black screen save battery?
- On OLED and AMOLED screens, yes. Black pixels are simply switched off, so a black display draws noticeably less power. On LCD screens the backlight runs regardless, so the saving is close to zero.
- Why does my black screen look grey?
- That is the backlight showing through. LCD panels cannot fully block their own light, so their black is really very dark grey. OLED panels switch pixels off completely, which is why their black looks genuinely black.
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