In computing, on the X Window System, X11 color names are represented in a simple text file, which maps certain strings to RGB color values. It is shipped with every X11 installation, hence the name, and is usually located in <X11root>/lib/X11/rgb.txt.[1]
It is not known who originally compiled the list. The list does not show a continuity either in selected color values or in color names, and many color triplets have multiple names. Despite this, graphic designers and others got used to them, making it practically impossible to introduce a different list. In some applications multipart names are written with spaces, in others joined together, often in camel case; this article uses spaces and uppercase initials.
The first versions of Mosaic and Netscape Navigator used the X11 colors as the basis for the Web colors list, as both were originally X applications. The W3C specifications SVG and CSS level 3 module Color eventually adopted the X11 list with some changes, as did JavaScript 1.1[2]. It is a superset of the 16 “VGA colors” defined in HTML 3.2 and CSS level 1.
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Perhaps most unusual of the color clashes between X11 and W3C is the case of ‘Gray’. In HTML, ‘Gray’ is specifically reserved for the 128 triplet, i.e. 50% gray . However, in X11, ‘gray’ was assigned to the 190 triplet, i.e. 75% , which is close to W3C ‘Silver’ , and had ‘Light Gray’ at 211 and ‘Dark Gray’ at 169 counterparts. This resulted in W3C’s ‘Gray’, at 50%, actually being significantly darker than ‘Dark Gray’, at 66%.
The W3C also defined a color that is equal to X11’s ‘Green’, but called it ‘Lime’.
| Color name | X11 color | W3C color | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| red | green | blue | Sample | Sample | red | green | blue | |
| Gray | 75% | 75% | 75% | 50% | 50% | 50% | ||
| Green | 0% | 100% | 0% | 0% | 50% | 0% | ||
| Maroon | 69% | 19% | 38% | 50% | 0% | 0% | ||
| Purple | 63% | 13% | 94% | 50% | 0% | 50% | ||
These charts are not a standard set of colors to be found on any X Window system. Rather it is the standardised X11 color names accepted by browsers following W3C standards. This set is cut down and rationalised, and has a few differences from a typical rgb.txt file.[3] RGB values shown are normalised to the 8-bit integer range 0 to 255.
| Name | Hex triplet | Red | Green | Blue | Hue | Satur | Light | Satur | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alice Blue | #F0F8FF | 94% | 97% | 100% | 208° | 100% | 97% | 6% | 100% |
| Antique White | #FAEBD7 | 98% | 92% | 84% | 34° | 78% | 91% | 14% | 98% |
| Aqua | #00FFFF | 0% | 100% | 100% | 180° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Aquamarine | #7FFFD4 | 50% | 100% | 83% | 160° | 100% | 75% | 50% | 100% |
| Azure | #F0FFFF | 94% | 100% | 100% | 180° | 100% | 97% | 6% | 100% |
| Beige | #F5F5DC | 96% | 96% | 86% | 60° | 56% | 91% | 10% | 96% |
| Bisque | #FFE4C4 | 100% | 89% | 77% | 33° | 100% | 88% | 23% | 100% |
| Black | #000000 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0° | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Blanched Almond | #FFEBCD | 100% | 92% | 80% | 36° | 100% | 90% | 20% | 100% |
| Blue | #0000FF | 0% | 0% | 100% | 240° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Blue Violet | #8A2BE2 | 54% | 17% | 89% | 271° | 76% | 53% | 81% | 89% |
| Brown | #A52A2A | 65% | 16% | 16% | 0° | 59% | 41% | 75% | 65% |
| Burlywood | #DEB887 | 87% | 72% | 53% | 34° | 57% | 70% | 39% | 87% |
| Cadet Blue | #5F9EA0 | 37% | 62% | 63% | 182° | 26% | 50% | 41% | 63% |
| Chartreuse | #7FFF00 | 50% | 100% | 0% | 90° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Chocolate | #D2691E | 82% | 41% | 12% | 25° | 75% | 47% | 86% | 82% |
| Coral | #FF7F50 | 100% | 50% | 31% | 16° | 100% | 66% | 69% | 100% |
| Cornflower | #6495ED | 39% | 58% | 93% | 219° | 79% | 66% | 58% | 93% |
| Cornsilk | #FFF8DC | 100% | 97% | 86% | 48° | 100% | 93% | 14% | 100% |
| Crimson | #DC143C | 86% | 8% | 24% | 348° | 83% | 47% | 91% | 86% |
| Cyan | #00FFFF | 0% | 100% | 100% | 180° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Dark Blue | #00008B | 0% | 0% | 55% | 240° | 100% | 27% | 100% | 55% |
| Dark Cyan | #008B8B | 0% | 55% | 55% | 180° | 100% | 27% | 100% | 55% |
| Dark Goldenrod | #B8860B | 72% | 53% | 4% | 43° | 89% | 38% | 94% | 72% |
| Dark Gray | #A9A9A9 | 66% | 66% | 66% | 0° | 0% | 66% | 0% | 66% |
| Dark Green | #006400 | 0% | 39% | 0% | 120° | 100% | 20% | 100% | 39% |
| Dark Khaki | #BDB76B | 74% | 72% | 42% | 56° | 38% | 58% | 43% | 74% |
| Dark Magenta | #8B008B | 55% | 0% | 55% | 300° | 100% | 27% | 100% | 55% |
| Dark Olive Green | #556B2F | 33% | 42% | 18% | 82° | 39% | 30% | 56% | 42% |
| Dark Orange | #FF8C00 | 100% | 55% | 0% | 33° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Dark Orchid | #9932CC | 60% | 20% | 80% | 280° | 61% | 50% | 75% | 80% |
| Dark Red | #8B0000 | 55% | 0% | 0% | 0° | 100% | 27% | 100% | 55% |
| Dark Salmon | #E9967A | 91% | 59% | 48% | 15° | 72% | 70% | 48% | 91% |
| Dark Sea Green | #8FBC8F | 56% | 74% | 56% | 120° | 25% | 65% | 24% | 74% |
| Dark Slate Blue | #483D8B | 28% | 24% | 55% | 248° | 39% | 39% | 56% | 55% |
| Dark Slate Gray | #2F4F4F | 18% | 31% | 31% | 180° | 25% | 25% | 41% | 31% |
| Dark Turquoise | #00CED1 | 0% | 81% | 82% | 181° | 100% | 41% | 100% | 82% |
| Dark Violet | #9400D3 | 58% | 0% | 83% | 282° | 100% | 41% | 100% | 83% |
| Deep Pink | #FF1493 | 100% | 8% | 58% | 328° | 100% | 54% | 92% | 100% |
| Deep Sky Blue | #00BFFF | 0% | 75% | 100% | 195° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Dim Gray | #696969 | 41% | 41% | 41% | 0° | 0% | 41% | 0% | 41% |
| Dodger Blue | #1E90FF | 12% | 56% | 100% | 210° | 100% | 56% | 88% | 100% |
| Firebrick | #B22222 | 70% | 13% | 13% | 0° | 68% | 42% | 81% | 70% |
| Floral White | #FFFAF0 | 100% | 98% | 94% | 40° | 100% | 97% | 6% | 100% |
| Forest Green | #228B22 | 13% | 55% | 13% | 120° | 61% | 34% | 76% | 55% |
| Fuchsia | #FF00FF | 100% | 0% | 100% | 300° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Gainsboro | #DCDCDC | 86% | 86% | 86% | 0° | 0% | 86% | 0% | 86% |
| Ghost White | #F8F8FF | 97% | 97% | 100% | 240° | 100% | 99% | 3% | 100% |
| Gold | #FFD700 | 100% | 84% | 0% | 51° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Goldenrod | #DAA520 | 85% | 65% | 13% | 43° | 74% | 49% | 85% | 85% |
| Gray (X11) | #BEBEBE | 75% | 75% | 75% | 0° | 0% | 75% | 0% | 75% |
| Gray (W3C) | #808080 | 50% | 50% | 50% | 0° | 0% | 50% | 0% | 50% |
| Green (X11) | #00FF00 | 0% | 100% | 0% | 120° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Green (W3C) | #008000 | 0% | 50% | 0% | 120° | 100% | 25% | 100% | 50% |
| Green Yellow | #ADFF2F | 68% | 100% | 18% | 84° | 100% | 59% | 82% | 100% |
| Honeydew | #F0FFF0 | 94% | 100% | 94% | 120° | 100% | 97% | 6% | 100% |
| Hot Pink | #FF69B4 | 100% | 41% | 71% | 330° | 100% | 71% | 59% | 100% |
| Indian Red | #CD5C5C | 80% | 36% | 36% | 0° | 53% | 58% | 55% | 80% |
| Indigo | #4B0082 | 29% | 0% | 51% | 275° | 100% | 26% | 100% | 51% |
| Ivory | #FFFFF0 | 100% | 100% | 94% | 60° | 100% | 97% | 6% | 100% |
| Khaki | #F0E68C | 94% | 90% | 55% | 54° | 77% | 75% | 42% | 94% |
| Lavender | #E6E6FA | 90% | 90% | 98% | 240° | 67% | 94% | 8% | 98% |
| Lavender Blush | #FFF0F5 | 100% | 94% | 96% | 340° | 100% | 97% | 6% | 100% |
| Lawn Green | #7CFC00 | 49% | 99% | 0% | 90° | 100% | 49% | 100% | 99% |
| Lemon Chiffon | #FFFACD | 100% | 98% | 80% | 54° | 100% | 90% | 20% | 100% |
| Light Blue | #ADD8E6 | 68% | 85% | 90% | 195° | 53% | 79% | 25% | 90% |
| Light Coral | #F08080 | 94% | 50% | 50% | 0° | 79% | 72% | 47% | 94% |
| Light Cyan | #E0FFFF | 88% | 100% | 100% | 180° | 100% | 94% | 12% | 100% |
| Light Goldenrod | #FAFAD2 | 98% | 98% | 82% | 60° | 80% | 90% | 16% | 98% |
| Light Gray | #D3D3D3 | 83% | 83% | 83% | 0° | 0% | 83% | 0% | 83% |
| Light Green | #90EE90 | 56% | 93% | 56% | 120° | 73% | 75% | 39% | 93% |
| Light Pink | #FFB6C1 | 100% | 71% | 76% | 351° | 100% | 86% | 29% | 100% |
| Light Salmon | #FFA07A | 100% | 63% | 48% | 17° | 100% | 74% | 52% | 100% |
| Light Sea Green | #20B2AA | 13% | 70% | 67% | 177° | 70% | 41% | 82% | 70% |
| Light Sky Blue | #87CEFA | 53% | 81% | 98% | 203° | 92% | 76% | 46% | 98% |
| Light Slate Gray | #778899 | 47% | 53% | 60% | 210° | 14% | 53% | 22% | 60% |
| Light Steel Blue | #B0C4DE | 69% | 77% | 87% | 214° | 41% | 78% | 21% | 87% |
| Light Yellow | #FFFFE0 | 100% | 100% | 88% | 60° | 100% | 94% | 12% | 100% |
| Lime (W3C) | #00FF00 | 0% | 100% | 0% | 120° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Lime Green | #32CD32 | 20% | 80% | 20% | 120° | 61% | 50% | 76% | 80% |
| Linen | #FAF0E6 | 98% | 94% | 90% | 30° | 67% | 94% | 8% | 98% |
| Magenta | #FF00FF | 100% | 0% | 100% | 300° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Maroon (X11) | #B03060 | 69% | 19% | 38% | 338° | 57% | 44% | 73% | 69% |
| Maroon (W3C) | #7F0000 | 50% | 0% | 0% | 0° | 100% | 25% | 100% | 50% |
| Medium Aquamarine | #66CDAA | 40% | 80% | 67% | 160° | 51% | 60% | 50% | 80% |
| Medium Blue | #0000CD | 0% | 0% | 80% | 240° | 100% | 40% | 100% | 80% |
| Medium Orchid | #BA55D3 | 73% | 33% | 83% | 288° | 59% | 58% | 60% | 83% |
| Medium Purple | #9370DB | 58% | 44% | 86% | 260° | 60% | 65% | 49% | 86% |
| Medium Sea Green | #3CB371 | 24% | 70% | 44% | 147° | 50% | 47% | 66% | 70% |
| Medium Slate Blue | #7B68EE | 48% | 41% | 93% | 249° | 80% | 67% | 56% | 93% |
| Medium Spring Green | #00FA9A | 0% | 98% | 60% | 157° | 100% | 49% | 100% | 98% |
| Medium Turquoise | #48D1CC | 28% | 82% | 80% | 178° | 60% | 55% | 66% | 82% |
| Medium Violet Red | #C71585 | 78% | 8% | 52% | 322° | 81% | 43% | 89% | 78% |
| Midnight Blue | #191970 | 10% | 10% | 44% | 240° | 64% | 27% | 78% | 44% |
| Mint Cream | #F5FFFA | 96% | 100% | 98% | 150° | 100% | 98% | 4% | 100% |
| Misty Rose | #FFE4E1 | 100% | 89% | 88% | 6° | 100% | 94% | 12% | 100% |
| Moccasin | #FFE4B5 | 100% | 89% | 71% | 38° | 100% | 86% | 29% | 100% |
| Navajo White | #FFDEAD | 100% | 87% | 68% | 36° | 100% | 84% | 32% | 100% |
| Navy | #000080 | 0% | 0% | 50% | 240° | 100% | 25% | 100% | 50% |
| Old Lace | #FDF5E6 | 99% | 96% | 90% | 39° | 85% | 95% | 9% | 99% |
| Olive | #808000 | 50% | 50% | 0% | 60° | 100% | 25% | 100% | 50% |
| Olive Drab | #6B8E23 | 42% | 56% | 14% | 80° | 61% | 35% | 75% | 56% |
| Orange | #FFA500 | 100% | 65% | 0% | 39° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Orange Red | #FF4500 | 100% | 27% | 0% | 16° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Orchid | #DA70D6 | 85% | 44% | 84% | 302° | 59% | 65% | 49% | 85% |
| Pale Goldenrod | #EEE8AA | 93% | 91% | 67% | 55° | 67% | 80% | 29% | 93% |
| Pale Green | #98FB98 | 60% | 98% | 60% | 120° | 93% | 79% | 39% | 98% |
| Pale Turquoise | #AFEEEE | 69% | 93% | 93% | 180° | 65% | 81% | 26% | 93% |
| Pale Violet Red | #DB7093 | 86% | 44% | 58% | 340° | 60% | 65% | 49% | 86% |
| Papaya Whip | #FFEFD5 | 100% | 94% | 84% | 37° | 100% | 92% | 16% | 100% |
| Peach Puff | #FFDAB9 | 100% | 85% | 73% | 28° | 100% | 86% | 27% | 100% |
| Peru | #CD853F | 80% | 52% | 25% | 30° | 59% | 53% | 69% | 80% |
| Pink | #FFC0CB | 100% | 75% | 80% | 350° | 100% | 88% | 25% | 100% |
| Plum | #DDA0DD | 87% | 63% | 87% | 300° | 47% | 75% | 28% | 87% |
| Powder Blue | #B0E0E6 | 69% | 88% | 90% | 187° | 52% | 80% | 23% | 90% |
| Purple (X11) | #A020F0 | 63% | 13% | 94% | 277° | 87% | 53% | 87% | 94% |
| Purple (W3C) | #7F007F | 50% | 0% | 50% | 300° | 100% | 25% | 100% | 50% |
| Red | #FF0000 | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Rosy Brown | #BC8F8F | 74% | 56% | 56% | 0° | 25% | 65% | 24% | 74% |
| Royal Blue | #4169E1 | 25% | 41% | 88% | 225° | 73% | 57% | 71% | 88% |
| Saddle Brown | #8B4513 | 55% | 27% | 7% | 25° | 76% | 31% | 86% | 55% |
| Salmon | #FA8072 | 98% | 50% | 45% | 6° | 93% | 71% | 54% | 98% |
| Sandy Brown | #F4A460 | 96% | 64% | 38% | 28° | 87% | 67% | 61% | 96% |
| Sea Green | #2E8B57 | 18% | 55% | 34% | 146° | 50% | 36% | 67% | 55% |
| Seashell | #FFF5EE | 100% | 96% | 93% | 25° | 100% | 97% | 7% | 100% |
| Sienna | #A0522D | 63% | 32% | 18% | 19° | 56% | 40% | 72% | 63% |
| Silver (W3C) | #C0C0C0 | 75% | 75% | 75% | 0° | 0% | 75% | 0% | 75% |
| Sky Blue | #87CEEB | 53% | 81% | 92% | 197° | 71% | 73% | 43% | 92% |
| Slate Blue | #6A5ACD | 42% | 35% | 80% | 248° | 54% | 58% | 56% | 80% |
| Slate Gray | #708090 | 44% | 50% | 56% | 210° | 13% | 50% | 22% | 56% |
| Snow | #FFFAFA | 100% | 98% | 98% | 0° | 100% | 99% | 2% | 100% |
| Spring Green | #00FF7F | 0% | 100% | 50% | 150° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Steel Blue | #4682B4 | 27% | 51% | 71% | 207° | 44% | 49% | 61% | 71% |
| Tan | #D2B48C | 82% | 71% | 55% | 34° | 44% | 69% | 33% | 82% |
| Teal | #008080 | 0% | 50% | 50% | 180° | 100% | 25% | 100% | 50% |
| Thistle | #D8BFD8 | 85% | 75% | 85% | 300° | 24% | 80% | 12% | 85% |
| Tomato | #FF6347 | 100% | 39% | 28% | 9° | 100% | 64% | 72% | 100% |
| Turquoise | #40E0D0 | 25% | 88% | 82% | 174° | 72% | 57% | 71% | 88% |
| Violet | #EE82EE | 93% | 51% | 93% | 300° | 76% | 72% | 45% | 93% |
| Wheat | #F5DEB3 | 96% | 87% | 70% | 39° | 77% | 83% | 27% | 96% |
| White | #FFFFFF | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0° | 0% | 100% | 0% | 100% |
| White Smoke | #F5F5F5 | 96% | 96% | 96% | 0° | 0% | 96% | 0% | 96% |
| Yellow | #FFFF00 | 100% | 100% | 0% | 60° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% |
| Yellow Green | #9ACD32 | 60% | 80% | 20% | 80° | 61% | 50% | 76% | 80% |
The list shown above covers only the colors supported by popular browsers. Some browsers like Netscape navigator insisted on an ‘a’ in any ‘Gray’ except for ‘Light Grey’.
The complete rgb.txt defines 101 shades from ‘Gray 0’ (black) up to ‘Gray 100’ (white) in addition to ‘Gray’ and its variants listed above. The shades are apparently defined by the formula Gray N := round(N% × 255) resulting in e.g. ‘Gray 96’ , which happens to be the same as ‘White Smoke’. Similarly ‘Dim Gray’ is the same as ‘Gray 41’ .
On the other hand ‘Gray’ lies between ‘Gray 74’ and ‘Gray 75’ , ‘Dark Gray’ is not the same as ‘Gray 66’ , and ‘Light Grey’ is not the same as ‘Gray 83’ .
For 78 colors as listed above, rgb.txt offers four variants ‘color 1’, ‘color 2’, ‘color 3’, and ‘color 4’, with ‘color 1’ corresponding to ‘color’, so e.g. ‘Snow 1’ is the same as ‘Snow’. These variations are neither supported by popular browsers nor adopted by W3C standards.
The formulae used to determine the RGB values for these variations appear to be somewhere near
color 2 := color × 93.2%color 3 := color × 80.4%color 4 := color × 54.8%Examples:
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