#BFB5BF

sRGB: 191 / 181 / 191

Ancient mountains reshape eternity
Restless constellations wander across quiet meadows
Eternal flames echo beyond eternity

#BFB5BF belongs to the magenta family. Its hex code tells a screen to mix 191 red, 181 green and 191 blue on a scale of 0 to 255. On the HSL wheel, hue is a position around a circle: 300.0° lands in the magenta region. Its 7.2% saturation makes it close to gray at this lightness. HSL lightness is 72.9% on a scale from black (0%) to white (100%). Of black and white lettering, black has the clearer light-to-dark separation on this background (10.58:1), which helps the shapes of letters stand out.

Color conversions

sRGB (8-bit): 191, 181, 191
HSL: 300.00°, 7.25%, 72.94%
HSV / HSB: 300.00°, 5.24%, 74.90%
CMYK (approx.): 0.00%, 5.24%, 0.00%, 25.10%
CIE XYZ (D65, Y = 100 for white): 47.411, 47.886, 56.037
CIELAB (D65, 2° observer): 74.753, 5.364, -3.794
WCAG relative luminance: 0.47886
24-bit decimal: 12563903

CMYK uses a profile-free approximation. Printed output depends on the press, ink and paper. Lab uses a D65 white point.

Text contrast

Contrast tells you how clearly lettering separates from #BFB5BF in light and dark. The ratio compares relative luminance, a measure of light weighted for human vision. Identical colors give 1:1 and black against white gives 21:1. A ratio of 2.99:1 falls just below the 3:1 AA minimum for large text. Body text needs at least 4.5:1 because its finer strokes are harder to distinguish.

Black text: 10.58:1

Normal text: AAA
Large text: AAA

White text: 1.99:1

Normal text: Fail
Large text: Fail

AA and AAA are WCAG accessibility levels. AAA sets a higher bar: 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text. Large text begins at 18 pt regular or 14 pt bold. Ratings use the unrounded ratio.

Reference: WCAG text contrast guidance

Palettes & scales

Harmonies rotate the hue. Scales mix the starting color with white, black or middle gray in 20% steps in encoded sRGB.

Complementary

#B5BFB5 sits half a turn (180°) from #BFB5BF on the HSL wheel. Keeping saturation and lightness steady while crossing to the opposite hue gives you a contrasting accent. Check text contrast separately before using the pair for lettering.

#BFB5BF #B5BFB5

Analogous

#BAB5BF and #BFB5BA sit 30° to either side of #BFB5BF. The three hues are neighbors on the wheel, so you can change the color of a border or highlight while keeping it close to the original.

#BAB5BF #BFB5BF #BFB5BA

Triadic

#BFB5BF, #BFBFB5 and #B5BFBF are spaced 120° apart, forming a triangle on the wheel. Try one for the main color and the other two for accents.

#BFB5BF #BFBFB5 #B5BFBF

Split complementary

Start at #BFB5BF and look across the wheel. #BABFB5 and #B5BFBA sit 30° to either side of its exact opposite, giving you two different accent choices.

#BFB5BF #BABFB5 #B5BFBA

Square

Starting with #BFB5BF, each quarter turn (90°) takes you to the next hue: #BFBAB5, #B5BFB5, then #B5BABF. Across the square, #BFB5BF pairs with #B5BFB5, and #BFBAB5 with #B5BABF.

#BFB5BF #BFBAB5 #B5BFB5 #B5BABF

Tetradic

#BFB5BF and #B5BFB5 are opposites, as are #BFB5B5 and #B5BFBF. Together they form a rectangle on the wheel, with alternating gaps of 60° and 120°.

#BFB5BF #BFB5B5 #B5BFB5 #B5BFBF

Tints

Mixing #BFB5BF with white in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #CCC4CC, keeps 80% of the original. By #F2F0F2, the mixture is 80% white.

#BFB5BF #CCC4CC #D9D3D9 #E5E1E5 #F2F0F2 #FFFFFF

Shades

Mixing #BFB5BF with black in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #999199, keeps 80% of the original. By #262426, the mixture is 80% black.

#BFB5BF #999199 #736D73 #4C484C #262426 #000000

Tones

Mixing #BFB5BF with middle gray in 20% steps produces this scale. The first mixture, #B2AAB2, keeps 80% of the original. By #8D8B8D, the mixture is 80% middle gray.

#BFB5BF #B2AAB2 #A6A0A6 #999599 #8D8B8D #808080

Copy color codes

Hex, RGB and HSL are three ways to write this screen color. Paste any of them into a CSS color property.

Hex

#BFB5BF

RGB

rgb(191 181 191)

HSL

hsl(300.000 7.246% 72.941%)

CSS example

.color-sample {
  background-color: #BFB5BF;
  color: #000000;
}

Channel breakdown

RGB

#BFB5BF uses 191 red, 181 green and 191 blue. Each bar shows how much of that channel’s 0–255 range the screen uses.

Red 74.9%

Green 71.0%

Blue 74.9%

CMYK

A simple CMYK estimate for #BFB5BF is 0.0% cyan, 5.2% magenta, 0.0% yellow and 25.1% black. These are ink amounts; a printer profile is needed to predict the result on paper.

Cyan 0.0%

Magenta 5.2%

Yellow 0.0%

Black 25.1%

Nearby colors

The nearest shorthand match is #BBBBBB. Its matching digit pairs let you write it as #BBB in CSS. For a modern design, keep #BFB5BF when you want an exact match. Use its web-safe neighbor, #CCCCCC, when matching a legacy palette of 216 colors.

Nearest shorthand: #BBBBBB Nearest web-safe: #CCCCCC

Gradient to complement

#BFB5BF #BDB7BD #BCB8BC #BABABA #B8BCB8 #B7BDB7 #B5BFB5

Color vision previews

Compare how #BFB5BF appears in each simulation. When two chart lines or status indicators become hard to tell apart, a label, shape or line pattern gives readers another way to distinguish them. Individual perception varies.

Protanopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from long-wavelength cones, some reds and greens can look alike, and reds can appear darker.

#B4B7BF

Deuteranopia

A red–green color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from medium-wavelength cones, some greens can be difficult to distinguish from reds or browns.

#B6B8BF

Tritanopia

A blue–yellow color vision deficiency. Without a distinct response from short-wavelength cones, blue can resemble green, and yellow can resemble pink.

#C0B6B8

Protanomaly (50%)

An altered long-wavelength cone response can make reds appear dimmer and harder to distinguish from greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#B8B7BF

Deuteranomaly (50%)

An altered medium-wavelength cone response can reduce the visible difference between reds and greens. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#B9B7BF

Tritanomaly (50%)

An altered short-wavelength cone response can make blue harder to distinguish from green. This swatch shows the model’s halfway setting.

#BFB5BD

Grayscale (luminance)

This design check removes hue and preserves relative luminance so you can compare light and dark areas.

#B8B8B8

Partial grayscale (50% blend)

This design check mixes the original color halfway toward its grayscale equivalent in linear light. Use it to see how a design holds up as color fades.

#BCB6BC

Reference: National Eye Institute: Types of Color Vision Deficiency

Technical reference

CAM16 and CIECAM02 below assume D65 white, an average surround, background Y of 20 against white at 100, and adapting luminance of 4.07 cd/m².

Linear sRGB

These channels scale with emitted light. Use them for lighting calculations and physically meaningful blends.

R 0.52100 G 0.46208 B 0.52100

Display P3

P3 displays can reproduce a wider range of reds and greens. These coordinates reproduce this same sRGB swatch on a color-managed P3 display.

R 0.74225 G 0.71115 B 0.74627

Linear Display P3

These P3 channels are proportional to light, before display encoding.

R 0.51054 G 0.46403 B 0.51673

CIE xyY

The x and y coordinates locate chromaticity on a diagram. Y gives relative luminance on a scale where white is 100.

x 0.313 y 0.316 Y 47.886

CMY

Ideal cyan, magenta and yellow are the complements of the encoded red, green and blue channels.

C % 25.098 M % 29.020 Y % 25.098

Binary RGB

Each eight-bit group represents one channel. Together they store the 24-bit hex color.

10111111 10110101 10111111