Dark gray

#9e9e9e

Hex, rgb, cmyk and Pantone values for dark gray, with shades, tints, matching colors and free print quality patterns.

Dark gray is a near neutral, mid with barely any hue. Mid greys like this are the backbone of clean, editorial layouts. Almost anything sits on top of it, which is what makes a good neutral useful.

Dark gray color values

Every conversion for #9e9e9e, ready to copy. Hex, rgb, hsl, hsv, cmyk, cie-lab, xyz, decimal, web safe and the nearest Pantone.

Hex#9e9e9e
RGB158, 158, 158
HSL0, 0%, 62%
HSV0, 0%, 62%
CMYK0%, 0%, 0%, 38%
Lab65.11, 0.0, -0.01
XYZ32.5, 34.19, 37.23
Decimal10395294
Web safe#999999
Pantone423 C
Pantone423 CHex#9e9e9eRgb158 158 158Cmyk0 0 0 38Lab65 0 0Darker#575757Deep#7a7a7aLighter#c2c2c2

Shades of dark gray

Tints of dark gray

Dark gray in print

It sits in a comfortable part of the gamut and reproduces reliably on press. The cmyk build is 0, 0, 0, 38.

The same color needs a different cmyk build depending on the paper. Here is #9e9e9e on both.

Coated stockgloss or silk, C
0 0 0 38
Ink sits on the surface, so colors stay bright and close to screen.
Uncoated stocknatural or matte, U
4 4 4 44
The stock absorbs ink and gains dot, so it needs a heavier build and reads a touch softer.

This color converts to cmyk comfortably and should hold on press.

See how it converts in the rgb to cmyk converter, or read rgb vs cmyk for print and what the k in cmyk means.

Dark gray in css

Copy #9e9e9e straight into your stylesheet.

.background { background-color: #9e9e9e; }
.text { color: #9e9e9e; }
.border { border: 2px solid #9e9e9e; }

How dark gray looks on light and dark

Dark gray and accessibility

Contrast ratios for #9e9e9e against black and white text, measured to the WCAG standard.

Textwhite text on this color
2.68:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Textblack text on this color
7.84:1
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass

Use black text on this color for readable body copy. To test #9e9e9e against any other color, not just black and white, run the pair through our contrast checker for a live WCAG reading.

Dark gray on a business card, sticker and pattern

A quick look at how #9e9e9e sits on real print products. Start any of these in the maker.

Your nameFounderhello@brand.comBusiness card
Sticker
Repeat pattern

Building a full palette around dark gray? Pull matching colors from any photo with the color palette generator, or check a design for print with the rgb to cmyk converter.

Turn dark gray into a seamless pattern

Four patterns built from #9e9e9e and its shades, free at print quality. Click any one to keep editing in the pattern maker.

Make posters, wallpaper and packaging art from dark gray, free and print ready.

Open in pattern maker

How we calculate these values

Every value on this page for #9e9e9e is computed, not guessed. We convert from sRGB to each space with the standard formulas, so the codes match what design tools show. Two cmyk builds are shown because coated and uncoated papers behave differently, uncoated soaks up ink and needs more of it to hit the same target. The Pantone figure is the nearest match in our reference set by perceptual distance and it is an approximation, not an exact spot color.