Skip to content
blue · cool

#83cdfa

a light, electric blue · cool · “Light Sky Blue”

Token name suggestion: Drift Cobalt

RGB
131, 205, 250
HSL
203°, 92%, 75%
CMYK
48, 18, 0, 2
Luminance
0.5539

#83cdfa is a light electric blue, 203° on the wheel and 97/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (12.08:1). As text it scores 1.74:1 on white — use #0879BE instead. Nearest name is Light Sky Blue, nearest Tailwind family is cyan.

hsl(203 92% 75%)rgb(131 205 250)Base step 300AAA inkCool

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #83cdfa is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#83cdfa
Hue
203°
blue
Saturation
92%
electric
Lightness
75%
light
Brightness
98%
HSV value
Perceived
75%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.5539
WCAG relative
Temperature
Cool
97/100 cool
Color family
Blue
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
12.08:1
Closest name
Light Sky Blue
ΔE2000 0.5
Chroma
31.3
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.817
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
cyan
500 · ΔE 12.3
Web-safe
#99CCFF
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue203° of 360°
Saturation92%
Lightness75%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #83cdfa.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool97% cool

Reads cool. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red9%
Green79%
Blue12%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#83cdfa
HEX (8-digit)#83cdfaff
RGBrgb(131, 205, 250)
RGBArgba(131, 205, 250, 1)
HSLhsl(203, 92%, 75%)
HSV / HSBhsv(203, 48%, 98%)
HWBhwb(203 51% 2%)
CMYKcmyk(48%, 18%, 0%, 2%)
LABlab(79.3 -11.2 -29.2)
LCHlch(79.3 31.3 249.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.817 0.097 236.4)
XYZ (D65)xyz(48.44, 55.39, 98.56)
Decimal8637946
Display P3color(display-p3 0.514 0.804 0.980)
Web-safe#99CCFF

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #83cdfa;
background-color: #83cdfa;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #83cdfa;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#83cdfa] bg-[#83cdfa]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #83cdfa;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.514, green: 0.804, blue: 0.980)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.514, green: 0.804, blue: 0.980, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#83CDFA</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFF83CDFA)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFF83CDFA)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(250, 205, 131)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(131, 205, 250)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(131, 205, 250)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 131, 205, 250)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.5137f, 0.8039f, 0.9804f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{131,205,250}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #83cdfa 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #83cdfa 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#054E7B, #D3E4EE);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #83cdfa h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #F2F9FD;
  --brand-100: #E4F2FB;
  --brand-200: #C3E4F9;
  --brand-300: #83cdfa;
  --brand-400: #5DBEF8;
  --brand-500: #27A8F6;
  --brand-600: #0A96EB;
  --brand-700: #087DC4;
  --brand-800: #06649D;
  --brand-900: #094A71;
  --brand-950: #062E47;
  --brand: #83cdfa;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #F4F8FA;
  --brand-border: #C0DCED;
  --brand-hover: #61BFF9;
  --brand-pressed: #3EB1F7;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #141E24;
    --brand-ink: #D3E4EE;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#F2F9FD',
        100: '#E4F2FB',
        200: '#C3E4F9',
        300: '#83cdfa',
        400: '#5DBEF8',
        500: '#27A8F6',
        600: '#0A96EB',
        700: '#087DC4',
        800: '#06649D',
        900: '#094A71',
        950: '#062E47',
        DEFAULT: '#83cdfa',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #F2F9FD,
  '100': #E4F2FB,
  '200': #C3E4F9,
  '300': #83cdfa,
  '400': #5DBEF8,
  '500': #27A8F6,
  '600': #0A96EB,
  '700': #087DC4,
  '800': #06649D,
  '900': #094A71,
  '950': #062E47,
);
$brand-base: #83cdfa;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#F2F9FD", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#E4F2FB", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#C3E4F9", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#83cdfa", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#5DBEF8", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#27A8F6", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#0A96EB", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#087DC4", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#06649D", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#094A71", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#062E47", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #83cdfa · 12.08:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 1.74:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 12.08:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #83cdfa as text scores 1.74:1 on white and 12.08:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #054E7B at 5.07:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#0879BE · 4.68:1
AA on white−36% L
#0879BE
The quick fox
#065D92 · 7.03:1
AAA on white−45% L
#065D92
The quick fox
#83cdfa · 12.08:1
AA on blackalready passes
#83cdfa
The quick fox
#83cdfa · 12.08:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#83cdfa

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #0A9BF4 is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#83cdfa on white: 1.74:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#83cdfa on black: 12.08:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #83cdfa as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #83cdfa.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White1.74:1AaAa
Slate 501.66:1AaAa
Slate 1001.59:1AaAa
Slate 2001.41:1AaAa
Slate 3001.17:1AaAa
Slate 4001.47:1AaAa
Slate 5002.74:1AaAa
Slate 6004.36:1AaAa
Slate 7005.96:1AaAa
Slate 8008.41:1AaAa
Slate 90010.27:1AaAa
Black12.08:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #B8CCFC
deuteranopia · #A8BFF9
tritanopia · #49D9DC

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #83cdfa is pinned to step 300; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#F2F9FD
#E4F2FB
#C3E4F9
#83cdfa
#5DBEF8
#27A8F6
#0A96EB
#087DC4
#06649D
#094A71
#062E47
Base = 300Lightest = 50 · #F2F9FDDarkest = 950 · #062E47Text step on white = 800
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.024 236.4);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.039 236.4);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.058 236.4);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.076 236.4);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.090 236.4);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.097 236.4);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.097 236.4);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.092 236.4);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.082 236.4);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.068 236.4);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.054 236.4);
}

Colors that work with #83cdfa

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#F4F8FA
Tinted page background
Border#C0DCED
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#4B7D9B
Captions on the surface
Accent#C91D03
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#054E7B
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#E6F5FE
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#141E24
Dark-mode background
Hover#61BFF9
One step down in lightness
Pressed#3EB1F7
Two steps down
Disabled#F3F5F7
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#92D6FF
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #83cdfa

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • White text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #054E7B
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #0A9BF4

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

trustedcalmcompetentcorporate

The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

It is also the most crowded hue on the web. Distinctiveness has to come from your other choices.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight25/100
  • TemperatureCool
  • ApproachabilityReserved

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#FAB083
Analogous left#83FAEB
Analogous right#8391FA
Split-complement 1#FA8391
Split-complement 2#FAEB83
Triadic 1#FA83CD
Triadic 2#CDFA83
Tetradic#EB83FA
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°203°

#83cdfa sits at 203°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red51.4%
Green80.4%
Blue98.0%
R · 0–255
131
0x83
G · 0–255
205
0xcd
B · 0–255
250
0xfa

CMYK percentages

Cyan47.6%
Magenta18.0%
Yellow0.0%
Key (black)2.0%

Total ink coverage is 68%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#83cdfa text on a black background

contrast 12.08:1

Card sample

#83cdfa text on a white background

contrast 1.74:1

Card sample

#83cdfa on grey

1.59:1

#83cdfa on its own surface

1.63:1

#83cdfa on its dark surface

9.73:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #83cdfa;
Background color
Panel with #83cdfa background
background-color: #83cdfa;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #83cdfa;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(131, 205, 250, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(131, 205, 250, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #83cdfa;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #83cdfa, #8883FA);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #83cdfa, #A683FA);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #83cdfa;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #83cdfa;
caret-color: #83cdfa;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #83cdfa;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #E6F5FE;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #83cdfa;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#83cdfa 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #83cdfa over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(131, 205, 250, 0.5)
rgb(131 205 250 / 50%)
#83cdfa80
hsl(203 92% 75% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #83cdfa 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#83cdfa1a#F3FAFF
20%#83cdfa33#E6F5FE
40%#83cdfa66#CDEBFD
60%#83cdfa99#B5E1FC
80%#83cdfacc#9CD7FB

Gradients from #83cdfa

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #BEE5FC, #83cdfa 45%, #054E7B);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #83cdfa, #7866F9);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #83cdfa, #FAB083);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #DBF1FE 0%, #83cdfa 45%, #054E7B 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #F4F8FA, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #B4FCED 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #A0A4FB 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #054E7B 0%, transparent 65%), #83cdfa;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #83cdfa

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#83cdfa in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
TechnologyFinanceHealthcareEnterprise SaaS
Common UI roles
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
Print note

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 12.08:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#83cdfa, answered

What color is #83cdfa?

#83cdfa is a light electric blue — the CSS keyword Light Sky Blue. It sits at 203° on the hue wheel with 92% saturation and 75% lightness, which reads as cool.

What is the RGB value of #83cdfa?

rgb(131, 205, 250) — 131 red, 205 green and 250 blue out of 255, or 51.4% / 80.4% / 98% by channel.

What is #83cdfa in HSL and HSV?

hsl(203, 92%, 75%) and hsv(203, 48%, 98%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #83cdfa a light or a dark color?

It is a light color. Relative luminance is 0.5539 and perceived brightness is 75%, so black text on it reaches 12.08:1.

Should I use black or white text on #83cdfa?

Black. It scores 12.08:1 against #83cdfa, versus 1.74:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #83cdfa accessible on a white background?

#83cdfa on white scores 1.74:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #0879BE to reach 4.5:1, or #065D92 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #83cdfa?

#FAB083 sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #FA8391 and #FAEB83, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #83cdfa?

For interface work: #F4F8FA as the surface, #C0DCED for borders, #4B7D9B for secondary text, #C91D03 as an accent and #054E7B for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #83FAEB and #8391FA stays calm, while #FAB083 is the loudest partner.

What is #83cdfa in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(48%, 18%, 0%, 2%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #83cdfa warm or cool?

Cool — it scores 97 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #83F9FA; nudged cooler, #69B6FB.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #83cdfa?

The cyan family — its 500 step is #06b6d4, ΔE2000 12.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #83cdfa as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #83cdfa in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#83cdfa] or text-[#83cdfa], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #83cdfa with 50% opacity?

rgba(131, 205, 250, 0.5), or #83cdfa80 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #C1E6FD; over black, #42677D.

Is #83cdfa a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #99CCFF, ΔE2000 5.1 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #83cdfa mean?

As a blue, it reads trusted, calm, competent. The default of institutions for a reason: blue is read as stable and safe across nearly every culture that has been surveyed. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #83cdfa?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #BEE5FC, #83cdfa 45%, #054E7B). For more colour, a short hue run to #7866F9 keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #83cdfa in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #83cdfa at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.