Shades of Brown
Every useful brown, generated rather than hand-listed.
There are 14 named CSS colors in the brown family, ranging from Copper (#b87333) at the light end to Espresso (#4b3621) at the dark end. The shades generated on this page all sit at hue 55° in OKLCH, so their lightness steps look evenly spaced instead of bunching up in the shadows the way an HSL ramp does.
Every shade of brown on this page is generated, not copied from a list. Each swatch sits at hue 55° in OKLCH with an even perceptual lightness step, so the ramp reads smoothly instead of bunching up at the dark end the way an HSL ramp does — and nothing is clipped outside what an sRGB display can actually show.
Click any swatch to copy its hex code. The sliders let you change how many shades you get, how intense they are, and how much the hue drifts across the ramp.
Three brown shades worth starting from
If you just need a brown that works, these three are safe picks at the light, mid and dark ends of the range.
| Role | Hex | RGB | Contrast on white |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light brown — backgrounds, tints | #f8ceb2 | rgb(248 206 178) | 1.45:1 |
| Mid brown — accents, buttons | #c16300 | rgb(193 99 0) | 4.16:1 |
| Dark brown — text, borders | #512500 | rgb(81 37 0) | 13.01:1 |
Named shades of brown
14 named colors that fall in the brown range, sorted from darkest to lightest, with the contrast ratio each one achieves against a white background. Anything below 4.5:1 is not safe for body text on white.
| Name | Hex | RGB | HSL | On white |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Espresso | #4b3621 | rgb(75 54 33) | hsl(30 38.9% 21.2%) | 11.36:1 |
| Fig | #5c4033 | rgb(92 64 51) | hsl(19 28.7% 28%) | 9.39:1 |
| Walnut | #5c4033 | rgb(92 64 51) | hsl(19 28.7% 28%) | 9.39:1 |
| Sepia | #704214 | rgb(112 66 20) | hsl(30 69.7% 25.9%) | 8.47:1 |
| Cinnamon | #7b3f00 | rgb(123 63 0) | hsl(30.7 100% 24.1%) | 8.22:1 |
| Coffee | #6f4e37 | rgb(111 78 55) | hsl(24.6 33.7% 32.5%) | 7.44:1 |
| Mud | #70543e | rgb(112 84 62) | hsl(26.4 28.7% 34.1%) | 6.94:1 |
| Saddle Brown | #8b4513 | rgb(139 69 19) | hsl(25 75.9% 31%) | 7.1:1 |
| Toffee | #795548 | rgb(121 85 72) | hsl(15.9 25.4% 37.8%) | 6.55:1 |
| Sienna | #a0522d | rgb(160 82 45) | hsl(19.3 56.1% 40.2%) | 5.62:1 |
| Ginger | #b06500 | rgb(176 101 0) | hsl(34.4 100% 34.5%) | 4.46:1 |
| Shadow | #8a795d | rgb(138 121 93) | hsl(37.3 19.5% 45.3%) | 4.22:1 |
| Caramel | #af6e4d | rgb(175 110 77) | hsl(20.2 38.9% 49.4%) | 4.07:1 |
| Copper | #b87333 | rgb(184 115 51) | hsl(28.9 56.6% 46.1%) | 3.79:1 |
Using brown in an interface
The two badges next to each generated shade are its contrast ratio against white and against black. The first step where one of them turns green is the lightest brown you can safely set body text in on that background — everything lighter is decoration, not copy.
For large areas, pick from the light end and let a darker shade of the same hue carry the text. That keeps the whole surface in one hue family, which is what makes an interface feel deliberate rather than assembled.
Frequently asked questions
What are the hex codes for shades of brown?
The ramp at the top of this page generates them — click any swatch to copy it. Three reliable picks are #f8ceb2 for light, #c16300 for mid and #512500 for dark brown.
What is the hex code for brown?
The closest single answer is Saddle Brown at #8b4513, but brown is a range rather than one value. This page lists 14 named brown shades and generates as many more as you want.
How many shades of brown are there?
Effectively unlimited — an 8-bit display can show over 16 million colors, and a large share of them read as this family. The useful question is how many distinguishable steps you need, which is usually somewhere between 9 and 12 for a design system.
What colors go well with brown?
Its perceptual complement sits at hue 235°, and the two neighbors either side of that make a softer split-complementary set. The palette generator builds all of them from any starting brown.
Which shade of brown is accessible for text?
On a white background you need 4.5:1 for body text. In the table above that is every row at or above 4.5:1 — generally the darker half of the family. The contrast checker will confirm any specific pair and suggest the nearest passing color if it fails.