Information about #171717 color

#171717 color image

Basic facts about this digital color

In the Register's classification, #171717 belongs to the Greyscale Color Family, featuring Desaturated and Very Dark brightness. In numbers: rgb(23, 23, 23) (9% red, 9% green, 9% blue), or CMYK 0 / 0 / 0 / 91 for print. Curious how these numbers work? Read our RGB color codes guide.

A softly muted deep charcoal, #171717 keeps to the darkest edge of the palette. Expect to see shades like this in dark UI themes, backgrounds and dramatic accents. In The Official Register of Color Names it is practically indistinguishable from All Black (#181818). Slightly further away sit Soft Black (#181A18) and Rustic Black (#1B1A16).

Under the hood all three RGB channels are equal (23 each), placing #171717 exactly on the neutral axis of the color space. Accessibility-wise, white text works best on #171717: 17.9:1 contrast (passing WCAG AAA) versus 1.2:1 for black. On paper it relies strongly on black ink (K:91), so proof dark layouts before a large print run. This shade is reserved in the Register and is not available for naming.

#171717 color variations

View this color variations of tints, shades, tones and hues.

Why this page shows fewer blocks

#171717 belongs to the Greyscale Color Family, and greyscale colors have no hue. Hue is an angle on the color wheel, and that angle only exists when a color leans toward one primary more than the others. Here all three channels are equal (R = G = B), so there is nothing to lean and no angle to measure.

Everything built on rotating that angle therefore has nothing to rotate. A complementary color is the hue 180° away — for a grey, that is the same grey. The same goes for analogous, triadic, tetradic and square harmonies. Rather than show seven identical swatches, the register leaves the Hues variation strip and the whole Harmonies section out.

What remains is everything that depends on lightness rather than hue. Tints, shades and tones still work, because they move the color up and down the scale instead of around the wheel. So do the nearest named colors, the conversions and the adjacent color codes.

How the register classifies colors · All greyscale colors in the register

Nearest named colors to #171717

The closest officially registered color names in the Register, ordered by similarity.

Conversions between color systems and etc.

  • HEX#171717
  • RGB23, 23, 23
  • CMYK0, 0, 0, 91
  • CSSrgb(23, 23, 23)
  • HSL0°, 0%, 9%
  • HSL Precise0°, 0%, 9.02%
  • HSV0°, 0%, 9%
  • HSB0°, 0%, 9%
  • Normalized R (0.0–1.0)0.090
  • Normalized G (0.0–1.0)0.090
  • Normalized B (0.0–1.0)0.090
  • GLSLvec3(0.090, 0.090, 0.090)
  • GLSL with alphavec4(0.090, 0.090, 0.090, 1.000)
  • HLSL / Metalfloat3(0.090, 0.090, 0.090)
  • Percentage of Red in RGB9%
  • Percentage of Green in RGB9%
  • Percentage of Blue in RGB9%
  • Color FamilyGreyscale
  • Saturation FamilyDesaturated
  • Lightness FamilyVery Dark
  • HEX ID171717
  • DECIMAL ID1513239
  • Name LengthThis color has no name
  • Seen by search & AI crawlers53 times
  • Counting from2025-01-01