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Hex codes

#990000 color: strong deep red hex code, RGB and shades

#990000 is RGB 153, 0, 0: pure red at 60% strength, a strong deep red between maroon and brick. White text on it measures 8.91:1, and the xkcd survey calls its nearest color blood red.

By Paul Gunder. Every value is computed from published standards; see how ColorPlum works.

Updated

ColorPlum swatch#990000medium-dark, vivid red
HEX
#990000
RGB
rgb(153, 0, 0)
HSL
hsl(0, 100%, 30%)

Best text on it: white at 8.91:1

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Every code for #990000

  • HEX#990000
  • RGBrgb(153, 0, 0)
  • HSLhsl(0, 100%, 30%)
  • HSV0°, 100%, 60%
  • CMYK0%, 100%, 100%, 40%
  • Lablab(32% 55.2 46.8)
  • OKLCHoklch(42.9% 0.176 29.2)
  • Decimal10027008

Tints, shades and tones

From white to black in 10% steps, with #990000 in the middle. Tap a code to copy it.

  1. 90%#F5E6E6
  2. 80%#EBCCCC
  3. 70%#E0B3B3
  4. 60%#D69999
  5. 50%#CC8080
  6. 40%#C26666
  7. 30%#B84D4D
  8. 20%#AD3333
  9. 10%#A31A1A
  10. Base#990000
  11. 10%#8A0000
  12. 20%#7A0000
  13. 30%#6B0000
  14. 40%#5C0000
  15. 50%#4D0000
  16. 60%#3D0000
  17. 70%#2E0000
  18. 80%#1F0000
  19. 90%#0F0000

Tones (mixed with gray)

  1. 10%#970D0D
  2. 20%#941A1A
  3. 30%#922626
  4. 40%#8F3333
  5. 50%#8D4040
  6. 60%#8A4D4D
  7. 70%#885A5A
  8. 80%#856666
  9. 90%#837373

Matching colors

Complementary
Analogous
Triadic
Split complementary
Tetradic (square)
Monochromatic
  • #140000
  • #4D0000
  • #990000
  • #E60000
  • #FF3333

#990000 in 3D color space

OKLab, the space ColorPlum does its math in: lightness runs up the pole, hue goes around it and saturation grows outward. The faint shell is every color a screen can show (saturation is drawn wider than lightness so hues separate). Drag to turn it.

#990000 with its complement, its triad and its tint and shade
  • #990000
  • Triad #009900
  • Triad #000099
  • Complement
  • 50% tint
  • 50% shade

#990000 in use

New collectionAutumn edit

Card body text stays dark for reading; #990000 carries the header and the button.

Shop nowTag

Headline in #990000

A paragraph with a link set in this color, which is dark enough for text on white.

How it looks with color-vision deficiency

A simulation (Machado and colleagues, 2009) of how the color and its complement read without one type of cone.

  • Typical color vision#990000
  • Protanopia (no red cones)#3E3600
  • Deuteranopia (no green cones)#605400
  • Tritanopia (no blue cones)#AA0005

Contrast and readability

PairingRatioWCAG 2.2
as text on white8.91:1AA AA large AAA
as text on black2.35:1AA AA large AAA
white text on it8.91:1AA AA large AAA
black text on it2.35:1AA AA large AAA
on your background7.78:1AA AA large AAA

Export

:root {
  --990000: #990000;
  --990000-rgb: 153 0 0;
  --990000-on: #ffffff;
}
On this page

In #990000 the red pair is 99, which is 153 in decimal and exactly 60% of 255. Green and blue are both zero. The HSL values are 0° hue, 100% saturation and 30% lightness, the Lab lightness is 32%, and the decimal value is 10027008. It is the point where red stops looking dark and starts looking assertive.

What #990000 looks like

Think of a fire engine in shade, a stop sign at dusk, or a university banner. The xkcd survey is unusually clear here: "blood red" (#980002) is 0.2 OKLab units away and "deep red" (#9A0200) 0.3, so people really do name this color the same way. "Carmine" (#9D0216) is 1.6 away and "brick red" (#8F1402) 2.2. On the CSS side the closest is darkred (#8B0000) at 3.1, followed by brown (#A52A2A) and maroon (#800000). So #990000 is a little brighter than darkred, and a good deal brighter than maroon.

Contrast

White on #990000 measures 8.91:1, past the 7:1 AAA level. Black on it fails at 2.35:1. Used as text, #990000 on white has the same 8.91:1, and on a pale tint such as #F5E6E6 it still reaches 7.36:1; on the 80% tint #EBCCCC it falls to 5.96:1, which is fine for body text but not for tiny footnotes. On #F8F8F8 it gives 8.39:1.

Tints, shades and partners

The tints run #A31A1A, #AD3333, #B84D4D and on to #F5E6E6 at 90%. The shades go through #8A0000, #7A0000 and #6B0000 and end at #0F0000. The complementary color is #009999, a teal, the triadic partners are #009900 and #000099, and the analogous colors are #99004D and #994D00. Teal is the strongest contrast; white and light gray make a quieter pairing.

Worked example

A neighborhood volunteer fire company wants a poster for its pancake breakfast. Make the top band #990000 with the title in white, which gives 8.91:1 and can be read from across a parking lot. Below it, put the times and prices in #990000 on white, using the same ratio. For the small print about parking, use the 80% tint #EBCCCC as a strip behind #990000 text, which still clears 5.96:1. Keep every other color neutral so the red does the work. If you later need an even darker header for a second poster, #650000 is the next step down.

Sources

  1. W3C, CSS Color Module Level 4: hex notation, sRGB and named colors (checked 2026-11-10) w3.org
  2. W3C, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2: contrast minimum (checked 2026-11-10) w3.org
  3. xkcd, Color survey results: the 954 most common color names (Randall Munroe, 2010; checked 2026-11-10) xkcd.com