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-=[ Retro Monochrome and High Contrast Color Display Palettes ]=-
By Michael Walden - Created: 2025-03-09 - Updated: 2025-03-09
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Introduction
------------
I have collected here many (85) color palettes of Retro CRTs, LCDs, CROs, VFDs,
Nixie Tubes, Numitrons, Calculators, Terminals, and Computers (in text mode).
Most of these are high contrast and are easy to read.
When configuring software on modern PCs (such as your text editor, email
client, etc.) or when creating web pages (in HTML, CSS), or other types of
documents (graphics), you can use these color palettes to mostly relive
displays of the past on today's high resolution flat panel displays.
I recognize that there are some repeat colors, though in different shades,
that I may consolidate in the future.
The colors are represented as hexadecimal (hex) triplet 24-bit RGB values
(#RRGGBB).
Enjoy!
Retro Monochrome CRTs
---------------------
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Black & Blue |
| ------------ |
| Foreground Dark..: #707099 |
| Foreground Normal: #A0A0CC |
| Foreground Light.: #D0D0FF |
| Background.......: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Black & White |
| ------------- |
| Foreground Dark..: #999999 |
| Foreground Normal: #CCCCCC |
| Foreground Light.: #FFFFFF |
| Background.......: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Green |
| ----- |
| Foreground Dark..: #009900 |
| Foreground Normal: #00CC00 |
| Foreground Light.: #00FF00 |
| Background.......: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Amber1 |
| ------ |
| Foreground Dark..: #AA4400 |
| Foreground Normal: #CC6600 |
| Foreground Light.: #FF9900 |
| Background.......: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Amber2 |
| ------ |
| Foreground Dark..: #996600 |
| Foreground Normal: #CC9900 |
| Foreground Light.: #FFCC00 |
| Background.......: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Yellow |
| ------ |
| Foreground Dark..: #999900 |
| Foreground Normal: #CCCC00 |
| Foreground Light.: #FFFF00 |
| Background.......: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Paper White |
| ----------- |
| Foreground Dark..: #666666 |
| Foreground Normal: #333333 |
| Foreground Light.: #000000 |
| Background.......: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Densitron's Negative Mode LCDs
------------------------------
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Midnight Blue |
| ------------- |
| Foreground: #00D0FF |
| Background: #0000B4 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Jade Green |
| ---------- |
| Foreground: #29FF48 |
| Background: #1E1F0F |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Tangerine Orange |
| ---------------- |
| Foreground: #FFB20C |
| Background: #4C1F19 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Sunburst Yellow |
| --------------- |
| Foreground: #DDF24E |
| Background: #141704 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Warm Amber |
| ---------- |
| Foreground: #FF6E28 |
| Background: #680E0D |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Arctic White |
| ------------ |
| Foreground: #BABABA |
| Background: #3F3F3F |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Ocean Blue |
| ---------- |
| Foreground: #C8C8C8 |
| Background: #2064FF |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Various LCDs
------------
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| No backlight, Reflective LCD |
| ---------------------------- |
| Foreground: #000000 |
| Background: #8D9274 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Y/G LED backlight, Transflective LCD |
| ------------------------------------ |
| Foreground: #3C5710 |
| Background: #D8E000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| STN-BLUE, WHITE LED backlight, Transmissive LCD |
| ----------------------------------------------- |
| Foreground: #C2CEE6 |
| Background: #1531DD |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| STN-Y/G, Transflective LCD |
| -------------------------- |
| Foreground: #2C3100 |
| Background: #22E100 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| LCD & Black |
| ----------- |
| Foreground: #000000 |
| Background: #7B8C5A |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| White & Black |
| ------------- |
| Foreground: #000000 |
| Background: #FFFFFF |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| White & Blue |
| ------------ |
| Foreground: #0033FF |
| Background: #FFFFFF |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Green & Black |
| ------------- |
| Foreground: #000000 |
| Background: #88DD00 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Blue & White |
| ------------ |
| Foreground: #FFFFFF |
| Background: #0233FC |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Blue & White |
| ------------ |
| Foreground: #FFFFFF |
| Background: #0080FF |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Miscellaneous
-------------
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| White |
| ----- |
| Foreground: #FFFFFF |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Cyan |
| ---- |
| Foreground: #00FFE0 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Red |
| --- |
| Foreground: #FF0000 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Green |
| ----- |
| Foreground: #00B000 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Bright Green |
| ------------ |
| Foreground: #00FF00 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
The following chartreuse color palette is the one that is supposed to be the
most detectable by the human eye (when fully light-adapted).
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Chartreuse (Yellow-green) |
| ------------------------- |
| Foreground: #7FFF00 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Amber and orange are hard colors to pin down. Some amber CRTs were actually
orange. Glance at these colors and pick the one that matches what you remember
as amber. In some cases, the names listed for these amber related colors are
somewhat meaningless/incorrect.
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Amber Dark |
| ---------- |
| Foreground: #B98000 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Amber Dark |
| ---------- |
| Foreground: #FF8000 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Amber |
| ----- |
| Foreground: #FF9200 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Amber |
| ----- |
| Foreground: #FFA000 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Yellow Amber |
| ------------ |
| Foreground: #FFAE42 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Amber |
| ----- |
| Foreground: #FFA620 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Deep Orange |
| ----------- |
| Foreground: #FF6600 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Amber CRT |
| --------- |
| Foreground: #FF9900 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Orange (colour) (Wikipedia) |
| --------------------------- |
| Foreground: #FFA500 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Amber (color) (Wikipedia) |
| ------------------------- |
| Foreground: #FFC000 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Amber CRT |
| --------- |
| Foreground: #FFC106 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| IBM 5155 Portable Personal Computer #1 |
| -------------------------------------- |
| Foreground: #EB7F11 |
| Background: #0F0B0C |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| IBM 5155 Portable Personal Computer #2 |
| -------------------------------------- |
| Foreground: #FFF67E |
| Background: #5D3744 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Blue VFD #1 |
| ----------- |
| Foreground: #00D0FF |
| Background: #000016 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Blue VFD #2 |
| ----------- |
| Foreground: #33CCFF |
| Background: #000016 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Green CRO |
| --------- |
| Foreground: #0BFFEE |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Green VFD |
| --------- |
| Foreground: #2AF5BD |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Sylvia 8843 VFD Tube |
| -------------------- |
| Foreground: #99FFFF |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Noritake VFD |
| ------------ |
| Foreground: #88FEFE |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Yellow VFD |
| ---------- |
| Foreground: #FDFF00 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Red VFD |
| ------- |
| Foreground: #FF1F1F |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Red VFD |
| ------- |
| Foreground: #FF3838 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Nixie Tube #1 |
| ------------- |
| Foreground: #F3F73E |
| Background: #D01B10 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Nixie Tube #2 |
| ------------- |
| Foreground: #FAFDB6 |
| Background: #D92608 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Nixie Tube #3 |
| ------------- |
| Foreground: #FFF9F9 |
| Background: #D72700 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Nixie Tube #4 |
| ------------- |
| Foreground: #FCFC6A |
| Background: #FF7000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Numitron #1 |
| ----------- |
| Foreground: #FFEFB5 |
| Background: #5E1E12 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Numitron #2 |
| ----------- |
| Foreground: #FFFFD9 |
| Background: #7B2A0F |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Classic LCD |
| ----------- |
| Foreground: #000000 |
| Background: #9AA393 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Classic LCD |
| ----------- |
| Foreground: #000000 |
| Background: #9BA080 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| HP-41 CALCULATOR LCD |
| -------------------- |
| Foreground: #202020 |
| Background: #A5AF91 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Sharp PC-E220 LCD #1 |
| -------------------- |
| Foreground: #506966 |
| Background: #8CA480 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Sharp PC-E220 LCD #2 |
| -------------------- |
| Foreground: #506966 |
| Background: #9DBC92 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Yellow/Green LCD |
| ---------------- |
| Foreground: #000000 |
| Background: #BFB600 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Yellow/Green LCD |
| ---------------- |
| Foreground: #000000 |
| Background: #B7C23F |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Grey & Black (Early Web Browser) |
| -------------------------------- |
| Foreground: #000000 |
| Background: #C0C0C0 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Electrohome B&W CRT (From WarGames) |
| ----------------------------------- |
| Foreground...........: #8AD2FF |
| Background...........: #262324 |
| Foreground Link color: #3C7FFF |
| Background Highlight.: #486F85 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| DEC VT125 Dark |
| -------------- |
| Foreground: #92CAFF |
| Background: #1F1E1A |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| DEC VT125 Bright |
| ---------------- |
| Foreground: #D7EBFF |
| Background: #7D7B78 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| DEC VT100 Dark |
| -------------- |
| Foreground: #708CC8 |
| Background: #484848 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| DEC VT100 Bright |
| ---------------- |
| Foreground: #90A0E8 |
| Background: #484848 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| TeleVideo TVI950 |
| ---------------- |
| Foreground: #E8F8FF |
| Background: #484848 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| OTRONA Attaché |
| -------------- |
| Foreground: #A5F8AA |
| Background: #47503B |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| TI-99/4A TI BASIC |
| ----------------- |
| Foreground: #000000 |
| Background: #40E8F0 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Atari 8-bit (Atari800Win PLus) |
| ------------------------------ |
| Foreground: #60B7E7 |
| Background: #005181 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Atari 8-bit (Xformer 2000) |
| -------------------------- |
| Foreground: #7BB5DE |
| Background: #21529C |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Atari 8-bit (Eric Parent / Joyful Coder) |
| ---------------------------------------- |
| Foreground: #8CDEFF |
| Background: #1873C6 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| C64 #1 (Wikipedia) |
| ------------------ |
| Foreground: #7C71DA |
| Background: #4242E7 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| C64 #2 (FC64 - Flash Commodore 64 Emulator) |
| ------------------------------------------- |
| Foreground: #A0A0FF |
| Background: #4040E0 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| C64 #3 (Wikipedia) |
| ------------------ |
| Foreground: #A5A5FF |
| Background: #4242E7 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| IBM AS/400 Black & White |
| ------------------------ |
| Foreground: #7C92F4 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| IBM AS/400 Green |
| ---------------- |
| Foreground: #24DA34 |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| x3270 Black & White |
| ------------------- |
| Foreground: #00BFFF |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Black & Blue |
| ------------ |
| Foreground: #0088BB |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Black & Dark Blue |
| ----------------- |
| Foreground: #0066FF |
| Background: #000000 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
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Related Technology Links
------------------------
Display device
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_device
Electronic visual display
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_visual_display
History of display technology
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_display_technology
CRT - Cathode-Ray Tube
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode-ray_tube
CRO - (Cathode-Ray) Oscilloscope
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscilloscope
LCD - Liquid-Crystal Display
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid-crystal_display
VFD - Vacuum Fluorescent Display
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_fluorescent_display
Gas-plasma display (Panaplex)
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display#History
Nixie tube
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixie_tube
Numitron Readout
http://DecodeSystems.com/numitron.html
6 Digit Numitron Clock
http://www.TubeRadios.com/numitron/
(was at Numitron.com)
LED - Light-Emitting Diode
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode
Seven-segment display
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven-segment_display
Fourteen-segment display
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen-segment_display
Densitron's Negative Mode Monographic LCD Displays (Archived - most images are missing)
https://Web.Archive.org/web/20110625220656/http://www.Densitron.com/Displays/Content.aspx?id=2092
Twisted nematic field effect (TN-effect)
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_nematic_field_effect
STN (Super-Twisted Nematic) display
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/STN_display
OLED - Organic Light-Emitting Diode
https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/OLED
Character LCD Displays - Crystalfontz America
https://www.CrystalFontz.com/c/character-lcd-displays/21
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(This document was originally published here: https://MW.Rat.bz/colors )
Counter: 363 (Since 2025-03-09)
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