Custom Color Screen
Fill the screen with any colour you like. Type a hex code, pick a shade, then take it full screen or save it as a plain image.
Type a colour code in the box below, or pick a shade, then open it full screen.
Any Colour, Full Screen
The other colour pages each show one colour. This one shows whichever colour you name.
There are two ways to say which. Use the picker to choose a shade by eye, or type a code straight into the box beside it. Both fill the screen the moment you are done, and the code always shows what is on screen, so you can read it off as well as type it in.
It takes the short form too. Type #0af and you get #00aaff, because a three-character code is just a six-character one with each character doubled.
From there it behaves like every other page here: press the button for full screen, press Escape to come back, or download the colour as a plain image at the size you need.
How to Use It
Three ways in, depending on whether you already know the colour you want.
Type a Code
Click the code beside the colour square and type over it. Hex codes work with or without the hash, in three or six characters.
The screen changes as soon as what you have typed is a complete colour, so a half-finished code leaves the last one in place rather than flashing black.
Or Pick by Eye
Click the small colour square to open your device's own colour picker. Choose a shade there and the code updates to match, which is the quickest way to find a code you do not know yet.
Then Open or Save It
Press Open Custom Color for full screen with nothing else on it. Or choose a size and press Download PNG to save the colour as a flat image, which is how you turn any shade into a wallpaper.
How a Colour Code Works
A hex code looks like nonsense until someone explains it once, and then it never does again. It is worth two minutes, because it is the same idea the rest of this site is built on.
Every pixel on your screen is three lights: one red, one green, one blue. A colour is just how bright each of those three is. A hex code is those three numbers written down, in that order.
Take #FF8800. Split it into three pairs: FF, 88 and 00. The first pair is red, the second green, the third blue. Each pair runs from 00, meaning off, to FF, meaning full. So that code is full red, a bit over half green, and no blue at all — which your eye reads as orange.
Once you know that, you can read a code without opening anything. #FFFFFF is all three at full, which is white. #000000 is all three off, which is black. #FF0000 is red on its own. Any code where all three pairs match, like #808080, is a shade of grey, because grey is what you get when the three lights are equal.
The reason the numbers go up to FF rather than 99 is that they are written in base sixteen, where the digits run 0 to 9 and then A to F. FF is 255, which gives each light 256 possible levels and 16.7 million colours in total.
RGB values are the same three numbers written in plain decimal instead. rgb(255, 136, 0) and #FF8800 are the same orange described twice.
Colours and Their Codes
Some colours have a page of their own on this site. These are the ones that do not, with the code to type in.
Cyan — #00FFFF
Green and blue at full with no red. The brightest colour a screen can make after white, and useful for spotting a pixel stuck on red.
Magenta — #FF00FF
Red and blue at full with no green. The strongest background there is for finding a pixel stuck on green.
Teal — #008080
Cyan at half power. Dark enough to be easy on the eyes and even enough to show uneven patches on a panel.
Brown — #8B4513
Mostly red with a little green. Hard for a screen to make convincingly, which is why brown looks different on almost every display.
Navy — #000080
Blue at half power. Dark colours like this are where cheap panels show banding instead of a smooth surface.
The Ones With Pages
White, black, red, green, blue, gray, yellow, purple, orange and pink each have a page with the faults that colour is best at finding.
What It Is Useful For
A plain block of a chosen colour turns out to be handy more often than it sounds.
The most common use is a wallpaper. Pick the shade, choose the size that matches your screen, and download it. You get a flat image with no logo, no watermark and no compression marks, which is more than can be said for most of the plain colours you find in an image search.
The second is a light. A phone or tablet showing a chosen colour, face up with the brightness low, is a small coloured lamp. Photographers do the same thing deliberately, holding a screen near a subject to throw a particular colour of light onto it.
The third is a backdrop. A second screen filled with one colour sits behind a small object for a photograph, or behind you on a video call, without the compression and the moving detail a video background brings.
And the fourth is testing. Any flat colour is a background that hides nothing, so a fault you suspect at one particular shade can be checked at exactly that shade rather than at the nearest one somebody made a page for.
Matching a Colour on Screen
People also come here to compare a colour on screen against something in the room — a paint sample, a fabric, a printed logo. It is worth being straight about how far that can be trusted.
A screen makes colour with light. Paint and fabric make it by absorbing light and reflecting what is left. Those are different enough that the same colour will rarely look the same in both, and what you are comparing against changes with the light in the room as well.
On top of that, no two screens agree. The same code shows differently on a phone, a laptop and a TV, and differently again depending on the brightness and the picture mode. Unless a screen has been calibrated with a colorimeter, it is showing you its own version of a colour rather than the colour.
So this is fine for getting close, for deciding between two shades, and for showing someone roughly what you mean. It is not fine for matching a brand colour exactly or for signing off a print job. For those, use a physical swatch.
Other Colour Pages
Each of these opens one colour, with what that colour is good at finding.
Screen Color Test
Steps through nine colours in order, which is the quickest full check.
White Screen
The brightest background, and the one that shows dead pixels and dust.
Black Screen
For stuck pixels, bright pixels and light leaking in at the edges.
Gray Screen
The best background for uneven brightness, cloudy patches and burn-in.
Green Screen
The colour your eyes read best, so faults show up on it first.
Dead Pixel Test
The full pixel check, using the colours in the order that finds most.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I show a specific colour full screen?
Type the colour code into the box beside the colour square, then press Open Custom Color. The screen changes as soon as the code is complete, and Escape brings the page back.
What is a hex colour code?
Three numbers written as pairs, in the order red, green, blue. In #FF8800 the FF is full red, the 88 is a bit over half green and the 00 is no blue, which your eye reads as orange.
Why do the numbers go up to FF?
They are written in base sixteen, where the digits run 0 to 9 then A to F. FF is 255, so each of the three lights has 256 levels and the three together make 16.7 million colours.
Can I use a short code like #0af?
Yes. A three-character code is the six-character version with each character doubled, so #0af is the same colour as #00aaff. Both work here, with or without the hash.
What is the difference between hex and RGB?
Only how they are written. Hex uses base sixteen and RGB uses ordinary numbers, so #FF8800 and rgb(255, 136, 0) are the same orange described two ways.
How do I make a plain colour wallpaper?
Set the colour you want, pick the size that matches your screen, then press Download PNG. You get a flat image with no logo or watermark, and there is a tall size for phones.
Can I match a paint or fabric colour on my screen?
Only roughly. A screen makes colour with light and paint makes it by reflecting light, and no two screens show the same code the same way. It is fine for getting close, but use a physical swatch for anything that has to match exactly.
Why does the same colour look different on my phone and laptop?
Because every panel is different, and the brightness and picture mode change it further. Unless a screen has been calibrated with a colorimeter, it is showing its own version of a colour rather than the colour itself.
Which colour should I use to test my screen?
White finds dead pixels and dust, black finds stuck and bright pixels, and gray finds uneven brightness. Magenta at #FF00FF is the strongest background for a pixel stuck on green.
Is this custom colour screen free?
Yes. It is free, it needs no app and there is no account to make.
Open Any Colour
Type a code or pick a shade, then take it full screen or save it as an image.
Free, no app to install, and it works on a monitor, laptop, tablet, phone or TV.
Open Custom Color