FFD700 (gold) — RGB, HSL, CMYK and Contrast

Q: What text colour should sit on FFD700?

Black gives 14.97:1 and white gives 1.40:1, so black wins at 14.97:1. That clears the 4.5:1 AA threshold for normal text and the 7:1 AAA threshold as well.

Every value recomputed from the hex code · WCAG 2.1 contrast ratios

A yellow at 50% lightness and 100% saturation, which puts it at 1.40:1 against white and 14.97:1 against black. The tables below give the notation conversions, the tints and shades that keep the hue intact, and the harmonies that pair with it.

FFD700

Notation conversions

Notation	Value
HEX	`FFD700`
RGB	rgb(255, 215, 0)
HSL	hsl(51, 100%, 50%)
CMYK	cmyk(0%, 16%, 100%, 0%)
Relative luminance	0.6986
Perceived brightness	79.4 / 100

R=255 G=215 B=0 · hue 50.6° · saturation 100.0% · lightness 50.0%

Contrast against pure white and pure black

Pair this colour with the two extremes to see which is the safer text partner. AA needs 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text; AAA raises that to 7:1 and 4.5:1.

Against	Hex	Ratio	AA text	AA large	AAA text
#FFFFFF	`white`	1.40:1	fail	fail	fail
#000000	`black`	14.97:1	pass	pass	pass

Tints and shades

Lightness moves in ten-point steps while hue and saturation stay fixed, which keeps the colour recognisable in a scale. The last column is the ratio against white text, useful for deciding where a scale stops working as a background.

Step	Hex	HSL	vs white text
shade -30	`#665600`	hsl(51, 100%, 20%)	7.25:1
shade -20	`#998100`	hsl(51, 100%, 30%)	3.82:1
shade -10	`#ccac00`	hsl(51, 100%, 40%)	2.22:1
tint +10	`#ffdf33`	hsl(51, 100%, 60%)	1.32:1
tint +20	`#ffe766`	hsl(51, 100%, 70%)	1.24:1
tint +30	`#ffef99`	hsl(51, 100%, 80%)	1.16:1

Harmonies

Scheme	Hex
Complementary	`#0028ff`
Analogous −30	`#ff5700`
Analogous +30	`#a7ff00`
Triadic −120	`#d700ff`
Triadic +120	`#00ffd7`

Read back from the notation table, FFD700 is rgb(255, 215, 0), which normalises to hue 50.6° at 100.0% saturation and 50.0% lightness. Its relative luminance of 0.6986 is what produces the two ratios above: 1.40:1 against white and 14.97:1 against black, a gap of 13.57. Position 15 of 69 in the colour library, it darkens to #665600 thirty points lower on the lightness axis and lifts to #ffef99 thirty higher, while the complementary rotation lands on #0028ff.

Nearby colours

FF7F50 coral D2B48C tan 808000 olive FFC107 Amber 500 CDDC39 Lime 500 FFEB3B Yellow 500

Frequently asked questions

What text colour should sit on FFD700?
Black gives 14.97:1 and white gives 1.40:1, so black wins at 14.97:1. That clears the 4.5:1 AA threshold for normal text and the 7:1 AAA threshold as well.

Do the CMYK numbers match a print workflow?
They are the naive conversion from RGB, which assumes no ink limit, no colour profile and no black generation strategy. Real print work needs a profile-aware conversion; the values here are the ones the converter reports and are best used as a starting point for a designer rather than a press-ready separations file.

Convert any other colour, or test a pair against each other, in the ColrShift colour converter and contrast checker. The colour library groups every entry on this site by hue family.