background-color

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

Try it

Syntax

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

/* Hexadecimal value */
background-color: #bbff00; /* Fully opaque */
background-color: #bf0; /* Fully opaque shorthand */
background-color: #11ffee00; /* Fully transparent */
background-color: #1fe0; /* Fully transparent shorthand */
background-color: #11ffeeff; /* Fully opaque */
background-color: #1fef; /* Fully opaque shorthand */

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

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

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

/* Global values */
background-color: inherit;
background-color: initial;
background-color: revert;
background-color: revert-layer;
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.

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 luminance 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.

Formal definition

Initial valuetransparent
Applies toall elements. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line.
Inheritedno
Computed valuecomputed color
Animation typea color

Formal syntax

background-color = 
  <color>

Examples

Colorize boxes

This example demonstrates the applying background-color to HTML <div> elements using different CSS <color> values.

HTML

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

css
.exampleone {
  background-color: transparent;
}

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

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

Result

Colorize tables

This example demonstrates the use of background-color on HTML <table> elements, including <tr> rows and <td> cells.

HTML

html
<table>
  <tr id="r1">
    <td id="c11">11</td>
    <td id="c12">12</td>
    <td id="c13">13</td>
  </tr>
  <tr id="r2">
    <td id="c21">21</td>
    <td id="c22">22</td>
    <td id="c23">23</td>
  </tr>
  <tr id="r3">
    <td id="c31">31</td>
    <td id="c32">32</td>
    <td id="c33">33</td>
  </tr>
</table>

CSS

css
table {
  border-collapse: collapse;
  border: solid black 1px;
  width: 250px;
  height: 150px;
}
td {
  border: solid 1px black;
}
#r1 {
  background-color: lightblue;
}
#c12 {
  background-color: cyan;
}
#r2 {
  background-color: grey;
}
#r3 {
  background-color: olive;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Backgrounds and Borders Module Level 3
# background-color

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also