Chocolate (web)
A light brown named for the cocoa pod, not the sweet treat
Chocolate (web) is a light brown shade used in web design, officially called 'chocolate'. Its colour matches the outside of an unripe cocoa pod, not the chocolate people eat. The traditional name for this colour is cocoa brown, first recorded in English in 1925.
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- The web colour 'chocolate' is lighter than real chocolate.
- It matches the exterior of an unripe cocoa bean pod.
- The name 'cocoa brown' was first recorded in 1925.
- Also known as light chocolate or cinnamon.
What colour is Chocolate (web)?
Chocolate (web) is a light brown colour, used as a standard shade in web design. It is lighter than what most people think of as chocolate, and is closer to the colour of the outside of an unripe cocoa bean pod. This sets it apart from deeper, richer browns and from the colour of actual chocolate products.
Where does Chocolate (web) come from?
The web colour 'chocolate' gets its name from the cocoa pod, not from the finished chocolate we eat. The traditional name for this shade is cocoa brown, which first appeared in English in 1925. Over time, it has also been called light chocolate or cinnamon.
How Chocolate (web) is defined
As a web colour, chocolate is defined by its digital hex value (#D2691E). It is not made from any physical material, but is a standard colour value used in digital design and web pages.
Where Chocolate (web) is used
Chocolate (web) is mainly seen in digital design, where it is one of the named colours for web use. It is chosen for backgrounds, accents, and elements where a warm, light brown is needed.
Brown around the world
What the brown family means from country to country.
Brown is the colour of Nazism in German political speech, after the brown shirts of the party's stormtroopers. To call a view "brown" is to call it far right.
Politics and protestDanger and warningShameSource: SturmabteilungMasi is bark cloth beaten from paper mulberry and printed in brown and black. It is worn at weddings and funerals and given in ceremonial exchanges.
Sacred and holyWeddings and marriageSource: Tapa clothKuntunkuni is a dark brown mourning cloth of the Asante, dyed with tree bark. Adinkra cloth, stamped with symbols, was first made on such dark grounds for funerals.
Mourning and deathSadnessSource: Adinkra symbolsThe batik of the Javanese courts at Yogyakarta and Surakarta is dyed in soga brown with indigo and cream. Some court patterns were once reserved for the royal family.
Royalty and powerPrideSource: BatikBogolanfini, or mud cloth, is cotton painted with fermented river mud in browns, black and white. Hunters wear it for protection, and women after childbirth.
Protection and healingSacred and holySource: B貌g貌lanfiniShades and relatives of Chocolate (web)
Related shades include milk chocolate, which is a moderate brown matching the colour of milk chocolate, and cocoa brown, the historical name for this web colour. It is sometimes confused with cinnamon, another light brown shade.
Colours that go with Chocolate (web)
Harmonies are worked out from the value #D2691E. Contrast ratios follow the WCAG 2 formula.
Questions people ask about Chocolate (web)
What colour is web chocolate?
Web chocolate is a light brown shade, similar to the outside of an unripe cocoa bean pod. It is lighter than the colour of actual chocolate.
Where does the name 'chocolate' for this colour come from?
The name comes from the cocoa pod, not the finished chocolate. The traditional name for this shade is cocoa brown.
Is web chocolate the same as the colour of chocolate we eat?
No, web chocolate is lighter and matches the exterior of an unripe cocoa pod, not the processed chocolate product.
What are other names for this colour?
Other names include cocoa brown, light chocolate, and cinnamon.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Chocolate (color)" (the section "Variations of chocolate"), written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. The swatch is an approximation: named colours are not fixed standards, and every screen shows them a little differently. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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