Brown color: hex codes, shades and palettes

Palettes built around brown. Click any swatch to copy its hex code.

Brown is #A52A2A — red. Below are its shades with hex codes, the values in every common format, and brown color palettes to copy.

Brown hex, RGB, HSL and OKLCH

#A52A2A
HEX
#A52A2A
RGB
rgb(165, 42, 42)
HSL
hsl(0, 59%, 41%)
OKLCH
oklch(48.1% 0.160 25.6)
On white
7.08:1
On black
2.96:1

Shades of brown

Eleven steps from one base color, generated in OKLCH so each step is an equal perceived step rather than an equal numeric one. Click a swatch to copy it.

Contrast and readability

Brown on white measures 7.08:1 and on black 2.96:1. WCAG AA asks for 4.5:1 on normal text and 3:1 on large text and UI components, so the higher of those two decides which background it belongs on. In the scale above, 500 is the first to clear 4.5:1 on white, at 5.69:1.

The contrast checker reports every level for a given pair and suggests the nearest passing shade on the same hue. The color picker builds this same scale from any color you paste in.

Related colors:taupe, tan, sand, tuscan, clay, umber. See every shade on the colors index.