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background-color

The background-color CSS property sets the background color of an element.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
background-color: red;
background-color: indigo;

/* Hexadecimal value */
background-color: #bbff00;    /* Fully opaque */
background-color: #11ffee00;  /* Fully transparent */
background-color: #11ffeeff;  /* Fully opaque */

/* RGB value */
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 128);        /* Fully opaque */
background-color: rgba(117, 190, 218, 0.5);  /* 50% transparent */

/* HSL value */
background-color: hsl(50, 33%, 25%);         /* Fully opaque */
background-color: hsla(50, 33%, 25%, 0.75);  /* 75% transparent */

/* Special keyword values */
background-color: currentcolor;
background-color: transparent;

/* Global values */
background-color: inherit;
background-color: initial;
background-color: unset;

The background-color property is specified as a single <color> value.

Values

<color>
The uniform color of the background. It is rendered behind any background-image that is specified, although the color will still be visible through any transparency in the image.

Formal syntax

<color>

where
<color> = <rgb()> | <rgba()> | <hsl()> | <hsla()> | <hex-color> | <named-color> | currentcolor | <deprecated-system-color>

where
<rgb()> = rgb( <percentage>{3} [ / <alpha-value> ]? ) | rgb( <number>{3} [ / <alpha-value> ]? ) | rgb( <percentage>#{3} , <alpha-value>? ) | rgb( <number>#{3} , <alpha-value>? )
<rgba()> = rgba( <percentage>{3} [ / <alpha-value> ]? ) | rgba( <number>{3} [ / <alpha-value> ]? ) | rgba( <percentage>#{3} , <alpha-value>? ) | rgba( <number>#{3} , <alpha-value>? )
<hsl()> = hsl( <hue> <percentage> <percentage> [ / <alpha-value> ]? ) | hsl( <hue>, <percentage>, <percentage>, <alpha-value>? )
<hsla()> = hsla( <hue> <percentage> <percentage> [ / <alpha-value> ]? ) | hsla( <hue>, <percentage>, <percentage>, <alpha-value>? )

where
<alpha-value> = <number> | <percentage>
<hue> = <number> | <angle>

Examples

HTML

<div class="exampleone">
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer
</div>

<div class="exampletwo">
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer
</div>

<div class="examplethree">
  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer
</div>

CSS

.exampleone {
  background-color: teal;
  color: white;
}

.exampletwo {
  background-color: rgb(153,102,153);
  color: rgb(255,255,204);
}

.examplethree {
  background-color: #777799;
  color: #FFFFFF;
}

Result

Accessibility concerns

It is important to ensure that the contrast ratio between the background color and the color of the text placed over it is high enough that people experiencing low vision conditions will be able to read the content of the page.

Color contrast ratio is determined by comparing the luminosity of the text and background color values. In order to meet current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a ratio of 4.5:1 is required for text content and 3:1 for larger text such as headings. Large text is defined as 18.66px and bold or larger, or 24px or larger.

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
CSS Backgrounds and Borders Module Level 3
The definition of 'background-color' in that specification.
Candidate Recommendation Though technically removing the transparent keyword, this doesn't change anything as it has been incorporated as a true <color>
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1)
The definition of 'background-color' in that specification.
Recommendation No change
CSS Level 1
The definition of 'background-color' in that specification.
Recommendation Initial definition
Initial value transparent
Applies to all elements. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line.
Inherited no
Media visual
Computed value computed color
Animation type a color
Canonical order the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Browser compatibilityUpdate compatibility data on GitHub

Desktop
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Explorer Opera Safari
Basic support 1 12 1 4
4
In Internet Explorer 8 and 9, there is a bug where a computed background-color of transparent causes click events to not get fired on overlaid elements.
3.5 1
Alpha channel for hex values 52 No No No No No
Mobile
Android webview Chrome for Android Edge Mobile Firefox for Android Opera for Android iOS Safari Samsung Internet
Basic support Yes Yes Yes 4 Yes Yes Yes
Alpha channel for hex values 52 52 No No No No 6.0

See also

© 2005–2018 Mozilla Developer Network and individual contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/background-color