Free tool · Color palettes · Runs in your browser
Color palette for gold
Short answer
Gold is #FFD700: the CSS color named gold, defined by the W3C, written rgb(255, 215, 0) or hsl(51, 100%, 50%).
#FFD700 · rgb(255, 215, 0) · hsl(51, 100%, 50%) · contrast 1.40:1 on white, 14.97:1 on black
Complementary
Analogous
Triadic
Split complementary
Tetradic (rectangle)
Square
Tints (toward white)
Shades (toward black)
CSS variables for the analogous palette
:root {
--color-1: #ff5700;
--color-2: #ffd700;
--color-3: #a7ff00;
}Nothing is uploaded. Click a color to copy its hex code.
Key takeaways
- Gold is #FFD700, rgb(255, 215, 0), hsl(51, 100%, 50%), CIELAB 86.9, -1.9, 87.1.
- Contrast: 1.4:1 on white and 15.0:1 on black. Black text on gold passes the WCAG AA minimum of 4.5:1.
- Its complement is #0028FF; the analogous colors are #FF5700 and #A7FF00; the triad is #FFD700, #00FFD7, #D700FF.
- 0 of the 9 tints and 5 of the 9 shades have at least 4.5:1 on a white background; the first shade that does is #806C00.
- Photographs rich in gold gave #B77A2D, #9F6B2B, #D28A2F, #E8AA51, #E7BB80, #F5CE66; the nearest of their colors to #FFD700 was 11.0 CIEDE2000 units away.
- For people with deuteranopia the closest pair in the triad is 28.9 apart, against 39.9 for typical vision.
Measured: a palette for gold, from photographs
Its complement is #0028FF; analogous colors are #FF5700 and #A7FF00; a triad adds #00FFD7 and #D700FF. On white it has a contrast ratio of 1.4:1 (fails the WCAG AA minimum of 4.5:1 for normal text) and on black 15.0:1. A palette extracted from three photographs rich in gold (17%, 10% and 6% of their pixels near the hue) came out as #B77A2D, #9F6B2B, #D28A2F, #E8AA51, #E7BB80, #F5CE66.
We searched Wikimedia Commons for gold subjects and kept photographs under Creative Commons or public domain licenses. Of 12 candidates we kept the three with the largest share of pixels within 20 degrees of the hue of the color, with saturation of at least 50% and lightness between 35% and 75%. The tool's own palette code (k-means in CIELAB, no random numbers) found five colors in each photograph. The six colors in the table below come from only the pixels inside the color window, from the three photographs, so they are six shades and neighbors of gold rather than the whole picture.
| Color | Share | Nearest CSS name | Contrast on white | Contrast on black |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #B77A2D | 42.2% | near peru | 3.60:1 | 5.84:1 |
| #9F6B2B | 21.1% | near peru | 4.55:1 | 4.61:1 |
| #D28A2F | 14.4% | near peru | 2.83:1 | 7.42:1 |
| #E8AA51 | 10.9% | near goldenrod | 2.04:1 | 10.30:1 |
| #E7BB80 | 6.7% | near burlywood | 1.78:1 | 11.82:1 |
| #F5CE66 | 4.6% | near gold | 1.51:1 | 13.90:1 |
Gold appears here as near peru, near peru, near peru, near goldenrod, near burlywood, near gold. The photo palette is a starting point: colors from a photograph are rarely pure, and the table shows how each performs as text on white and black.
Measured: the photographs
| Photograph | Photographer, license | Pixels near the hue | Five colors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sankhumukham Beach - Golden Sunset - 27 | Navaneeth Krishnan S, CC BY-SA 3.0 | 17% | #6C4726 34%, #97612E 28%, #442D1B 18%, #C58438 16%, #EECD7B 5% |
| Sunset near Great Sand Dunes National Park | Andrew Russell, CC BY 2.0 | 10% | #5A3C14 33%, #AA651F 28%, #A9A194 16%, #38302E 14%, #F1B76F 10% |
| Golden wheat field 2 | Nupur Dasgupta, CC BY 2.0 | 6% | #823B12 26%, #AA6729 26%, #8E8C9A 23%, #684B1A 16%, #31200B 9% |
The photographs are credited with their Wikimedia Commons license. The extracted lists are the exact tool output.
Colors that go with gold
| Harmony | Colors | Closest pair, typical vision | Protanopia | Deuteranopia | Tritanopia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complementary | #FFD700, #0028FF | 89.5 | 79.2 | 86.2 | 50.7 |
| Analogous | #FF5700, #FFD700, #A7FF00 | 23.7 | 5.6 | 1.4 | 29.9 |
| Triadic | #FFD700, #00FFD7, #D700FF | 39.9 | 23.3 | 28.9 | 30.9 |
| Split complementary | #FFD700, #00A7FF, #5700FF | 42.9 | 23.7 | 23.9 | 31.4 |
| Tetradic (rectangle) | #FFD700, #28FF00, #0028FF, #D700FF | 23.2 | 4.3 | 2.7 | 30.9 |
| Square | #FFD700, #00FF58, #0028FF, #FF00A8 | 33.3 | 4.7 | 6.8 | 31.2 |
The complement, #0028FF, sits opposite #FFD700 on the color wheel (hue + 180 degrees); Wikipedia's color scheme article describes analogous schemes as neighbors on the wheel and a triadic scheme as colors 120 and 240 degrees apart. Under protanopia, deuteranopia and tritanopia the colors are simulated with the Machado model at full severity; a closest pair below about 10 is hard to tell apart.
Gold in numbers
| Notation | Value |
|---|---|
| Hex | #FFD700 |
| RGB | rgb(255, 215, 0) |
| HSL | hsl(50.6, 100.0%, 50.0%) |
| CMYK (simple conversion) | 0%, 16%, 100%, 0% |
| CIELAB (D65) | 86.9, -1.9, 87.1 |
| Nearest CSS color name | gold #FFD700 (exact) |
| Contrast on white | 1.40:1 |
| Contrast on black | 14.97:1 |
Tints, shades and accessible text
| Step | Tint (toward white) | Contrast on white | Shade (toward black) | Contrast on white |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | #FFDB1A | 1.36:1 | #E6C200 | 1.74:1 |
| 20% | #FFDF33 | 1.32:1 | #CCAC00 | 2.22:1 |
| 30% | #FFE34D | 1.28:1 | #B39700 | 2.86:1 |
| 40% | #FFE766 | 1.24:1 | #998100 | 3.82:1 |
| 50% | #FFEB80 | 1.20:1 | #806C00 | 5.17:1 |
| 60% | #FFEF99 | 1.16:1 | #665600 | 7.25:1 |
| 70% | #FFF3B3 | 1.12:1 | #4D4100 | 10.14:1 |
| 80% | #FFF7CC | 1.08:1 | #332B00 | 14.13:1 |
| 90% | #FFFBE6 | 1.04:1 | #1A1600 | 18.12:1 |
0 tints and 5 shades reach 4.5:1 against white. The WCAG success criterion 1.4.3 asks for at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text; criterion 1.4.6 asks for 7:1 for the enhanced level.
Use it in CSS
:root { --gold-1: #b77a2d; --gold-2: #9f6b2b; --gold-3: #d28a2f; --gold-4: #e8aa51; --gold-5: #e7bb80; --gold-6: #f5ce66; }
The complement and analogous colors of #FFD700: #0028FF, #FF5700, #A7FF00.
Free tools:Color palette generatorPalette from an imageImage to textCompress an image
Check the contrast before you use it for text
- Gold #FFD700 on white: 1.40:1; on black: 14.97:1.
- The darkest shade in the table, #1A1600, reaches 18.12:1 on white.
- Large text (at least 18 point, or 14 point bold) needs 3:1; normal text needs 4.5:1; the enhanced level needs 7:1.
- Do not use color as the only way to tell things apart: about 1 in 12 men have a color vision deficiency.
How the numbers were made
The hex value of gold is the W3C CSS named color. Harmonies rotate the hue in HSL and keep saturation and lightness. Contrast follows the WCAG 2 definition with relative luminance. Color differences use CIEDE2000, which Wikipedia notes is designed so that a difference of 1.0 stands for a just noticeable difference. Color blindness is simulated with the matrices of Machado, Oliveira and Fernandes (2009) at severity 1.0. Palette extraction: pixels are grouped into 32 levels per channel and clustered with k-means in CIELAB; the same picture always gives the same palette. The accuracy test on pictures of known colors is on the palette generator page.
Questions people ask
What is the hex code for gold?
Gold is #FFD700 (the W3C CSS named color), rgb(255, 215, 0).
What color goes with gold?
The complement of #FFD700 is #0028FF. Analogous colors are #FF5700 and #A7FF00; a triad is #FFD700, #00FFD7, #D700FF.
Is #FFD700 accessible for text?
On white it has 1.40:1 and on black 14.97:1. The WCAG AA minimum for normal text is 4.5:1, so black text on #FFD700 passes.
Can people with color blindness tell the gold palette apart?
For the six colors of the photo palette, the closest pair is 6.7 apart for typical vision and 6.4 for deuteranopia (CIEDE2000; below about 10 is hard).
How was the palette made?
The tool found the dominant colors of the photographs with k-means clustering in CIELAB. It runs in your browser; you can do the same with your own picture on the palette from image page.
Can I use these colors commercially?
Colors themselves are not licensed. The photographs used to find them keep their Creative Commons licenses, shown in the table.
Can I get a palette from my own photo?
Yes. Use the palette from an image tool; nothing is uploaded.
How many colors should a palette have?
Many designs use five: one dominant, one or two supporting, one accent and a neutral. The tool lets you choose 3 to 10 when you extract from a picture.
What is the difference between tints and shades?
A tint mixes the color with white and a shade mixes it with black. The table shows nine of each in steps of 10%.
Related
Sources and how we checked
- W3C: CSS Color Module Level 4 (named colors) (read 2026-10-10)
- W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3, Contrast (Minimum) (read 2026-10-10)
- W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.6, Contrast (Enhanced) (read 2026-10-10)
- Wikipedia: Color scheme (read 2026-10-10)
- Wikipedia: Color difference (CIEDE2000) (read 2026-10-10)
- Machado, Oliveira and Fernandes: A physiologically-based model for simulation of color vision deficiency (2009) (read 2026-10-10)
- Wikimedia Commons (the photographs, under the licenses shown) (read 2026-10-10)
Reviewed October 10, 2026. The palettes were found with the tool's own code from Creative Commons photographs; contrast, harmonies and color differences are computed. The files and results are in data/seo/hub/evidence/2026-10-10/palette.