Browser Safe Colors (Palette)

Browser Safe Colors is a term that refers to the array of colors that can be described in the computer language using only 8 bits.

In the days when 8-bit monitors were the standard, a web developer had to restrict himself or herself to only the browser safe colors in order to ensure that the colors he or she chose would appear correctly on web pages.

Browser safe colors and their use today

Only a few people are using 8-bit monitors with their personal computers these days, the trend is clearly toward so-called True Color monitors in which any of 16 million colors can be displayed. So, it is possible to use any these days.

However, webpages are not browsed through computer monitors only. Web pages can be accessed via a TV, PDA, cell phone, and other less sophisticated devices. These devices do not support 16 million colors, and therefore if a developer codes the website also for these users, he or she may still want to consider browser safe colors. After all, they are always the safe alternative, nothing can go wrong with them.

Other names for Browser Safe Colors

Browser safe colors are ofter referred as browser-safe palette, Netscape palette, 216 palette, Web palette, or 6x6x6 color cube.

Browser safe colors chart

The following chart shows HTML hex codes and also RGB HTML color codes.

The Browser-Safe Palette only contains 216 colors out of a possible 256. That is because the remaining 40 colors vary on Macs and PCs. By eliminating the 40 variable colors, this palette is optimized for cross-platform use.