Cerulean color: hex codes, shades and palettes

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

A blue with a green cast, the colour of shallow water over sand. Sits between teal and a true blue and holds its own at large sizes.

Cerulean hex, RGB, HSL and OKLCH

#1A7EA3

HEX: #1A7EA3
RGB: rgb(26, 126, 163)
HSL: hsl(196, 72%, 37%)
OKLCH: oklch(55.6% 0.102 229.1)
On white: 4.61:1
On black: 4.56:1

Shades of cerulean

9 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.

Cerulean color values

#1A7EA3rgb(26, 126, 163)

Color spaces of #1a7ea3
RGB	26	126	163
HSL	196°	72%	37%
HSV	196°	84%	64%
CMYK	0.84	0.23	0.00	0.36
XYZ	14.4950	17.7838	37.3119
Yxy	17.7838	0.2083	0.2555
CIE-Lab	49.2329	-14.0417	-27.4858
Hunter Lab	42.1709	-12.4450	-22.9389
OKLCH	55.6%	0.102	229.1°

#1A7EA3 is 26 red, 126 green and 163 blue. Its blue channel carries the most of it. The nearest of the 216 web safe colors is #336699.

CIE-Lab, XYZ and Yxy are measured against D65, the white point sRGB itself is defined against. Hunter Lab uses the original illuminant C constants, which is what paint and plastics specifications quote, so the two Lab rows are not directly comparable. CMYK is the plain arithmetic conversion: real ink values depend on the press, the paper and the profile.

Base numbers
Base	Red	Green	Blue
Binary	00011010	01111110	10100011
Octal	32	176	243
Decimal	26	126	163
Hex	1A	7E	A3

#1a7ea3 mixed with black

Ten even steps of the classic shade ramp, worked out in RGB, which is how the term has always been defined and how other references list it. The OKLCH scale further down this page answers a different question: it steps by equal perceived amounts, so its values are not the same.

#1A7EA3
#177192
#146482
#125872
#0F4B61
#0D3F51
#0A3241
#072530
#051920
#020C10
#000000

#1a7ea3 mixed with white

The tint ramp, by the same rule in the other direction.

#1A7EA3
#308AAC
#4797B5
#5EA4BE
#75B1C7
#8CBED1
#A3CBDA
#BAD8E3
#D1E5EC
#E8F2F5
#FFFFFF

Channel shares

Red8.3%
Green40.0%
Blue51.7%

Color schemes

Turned in OKLCH rather than HSL, so every member keeps the lightness and chroma of the original instead of one of them arriving washed out.

Complementary

#1A7EA3
#A3603A

Triadic

#1A7EA3
#9F597D
#787826

Analogous

#1A7EA3
#4E74AF
#008488

Monochromatic

#001823
#00374B
#005A77
#1A7EA3
#49A3C9
#70C9F1
#C1EBFF

#1a7ea3 on black and on white

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 4.56:1

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 4.61:1

Body text needs 4.5:1 to meet AA and large text needs 3:1, so a ratio tells you which of the two backgrounds this color can be read on, and at what size.

CSS for #1a7ea3

color: #1a7ea3;
background-color: #1a7ea3;
border: 3px solid #1a7ea3;
box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px 2px #1a7ea3;
text-shadow: 4px 4px 2px rgba(26, 126, 163, 0.8);

/* Perceptually even, and what a modern stylesheet wants */
color: oklch(55.6% 0.102 229.1);

The OKLCH form is the same color stated so that lightening or darkening it moves by an amount the eye agrees with. Every current browser understands it.

Contrast and readability

Cerulean on white measures 4.61:1 and on black 4.56:1. 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 5.14:1.

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: blue, navy, royal blue, cobalt, periwinkle, transparent blue. See every shade on the colors index.

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