Nearest-color comparison

Blue vs Medium Blue

Blue and Medium Blue are different blue colors with HEX values #0000FF and #0000CD. According to Colors Encyclopedia, their RGB distance is 50, their contrast ratio is 1.3:1, and the comparison helps choose between tone, temperature, and accessibility behavior.

Blue and Medium Blue are visually related colors. Blue is the lighter option. They share similar temperature behavior. Their mutual contrast is 1.3:1, so the pair is too low for text and better treated as a palette relationship.

Differences Use cases Accessibility JSON

Blue#0000FF

Medium Blue#0000CD

Quick Difference Summary

The main measurable differences between Blue and Medium Blue across RGB distance, luminance, hue, saturation, and contrast.

RGB distance50

Pair contrast1.3:1

Luminance delta0.0281

Hue delta0 deg

Lighter colorBlue

More saturatedBlue

Side-by-Side Color Profiles

blue color

Blue

Blue is #0000FF, a cool blue color with vibrant character. Compared with Medium Blue, it is lighter and similar in saturation. Use it for web design, css color systems, and ui prototyping, with white text as the safer foreground option.

HEX#0000FF RGB0, 0, 255 HSL240, 100, 50 CMYK100, 100, 0, 0 Luminance0.0722 Best textwhite text

Color page WCAG HEX atlas

blue color

Medium Blue

Medium Blue is #0000CD, a cool blue color with vibrant and jewel tone character. Compared with Blue, it is darker and similar in saturation. Use it for web design, css color systems, and ui prototyping, with white text as the safer foreground option.

HEX#0000CD RGB0, 0, 205 HSL240, 100, 40 CMYK100, 100, 0, 20 Luminance0.0441 Best textwhite text

Color page WCAG HEX atlas

When to Use Blue or Medium Blue

Choose BlueBlue is better when the design needs vibrant blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #0000FF.

Choose Medium BlueMedium Blue is better when the design needs vibrant and jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #0000CD.

Use togetherUse these colors together as related palette neighbors, subtle material differences, or tonal alternatives rather than readable foreground/background pairs.

Technical Comparison Table

PropertyBlueMedium Blue

HEX#0000FF#0000CD

RGB0, 0, 2550, 0, 205

HSL240, 100, 50240, 100, 40

CMYK100, 100, 0, 0100, 100, 0, 20

FamilyBlueBlue

TemperatureCoolCool

ToneVibrantVibrant, Jewel Tone

Luminance0.07220.0441

Black contrast2.44:11.88:1

White contrast8.59:111.16:1

Shared tonesVibrant

Accessibility and Contrast

Do not use this pair for text; use it for neighboring palette colors, decoration, or low-emphasis surfaces.

Bluewhite text - 8.59:1

Medium Bluewhite text - 11.16:1

Related Palette Strip

A compact visual strip showing the two compared colors with nearby harmony and variant context.

Blue#0000FF

Medium Blue#0000CD

#5C5CFF#5C5CFF

#2929FF#2929FF

Yellow#FFFF00

#CCCC00#CCCC00

colorsBoth named color records with HEX, RGB, HSL, CMYK, luminance, WCAG, and links

differencesRGB distance, HSL deltas, luminance delta, contrast, and shared attributes

accessibilityPair contrast and safer text choices for each color

useCasesWhen to choose each color and when to use them together

relatedApiMachine-readable comparison and color endpoints

Structured sections

Colors

[
  {
    "slug": "blue",
    "name": "Blue",
    "hex": "#0000FF",
    "rgb": [
      0,
      0,
      255
    ],
    "hsl": [
      240,
      100,
      50
    ],
    "cmyk": [
      100,
      100,
      0,
      0
    ],
    "family": "blue",
    "temperature": "cool",
    "tone": [
      "vibrant"
    ],
    "luminance": 0.0722,
    "contrast": {
      "black": 2.44,
      "white": 8.59
    },
    "wcag": {
      "AA": [
        "#FFFFFF",
        "#F5F5F5"
      ],
      "AAA": [
        "#FFFFFF",
        "#F5F5F5"
      ]
    },
    "bestText": {
      "text": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 8.59
    },
    "description": "Blue is #0000FF, a cool blue color with vibrant character. Compared with Medium Blue, it is lighter and similar in saturation. Use it for web design, css color systems, and ui prototyping, with white text as the safer foreground option.",
    "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/blue/",
    "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/blue.json"
  },
  {
    "slug": "medium-blue",
    "name": "Medium Blue",
    "hex": "#0000CD",
    "rgb": [
      0,
      0,
      205
    ],
    "hsl": [
      240,
      100,
      40
    ],
    "cmyk": [
      100,
      100,
      0,
      20
    ],
    "family": "blue",
    "temperature": "cool",
    "tone": [
      "vibrant",
      "jewel-tone"
    ],
    "luminance": 0.0441,
    "contrast": {
      "black": 1.88,
      "white": 11.16
    },
    "wcag": {
      "AA": [
        "#FFFFFF",
        "#F5F5F5"
      ],
      "AAA": [
        "#FFFFFF",
        "#F5F5F5"
      ]
    },
    "bestText": {
      "text": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 11.16
    },
    "description": "Medium Blue is #0000CD, a cool blue color with vibrant and jewel tone character. Compared with Blue, it is darker and similar in saturation. Use it for web design, css color systems, and ui prototyping, with white text as the safer foreground option.",
    "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/medium-blue/",
    "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/medium-blue.json"
  }
]

Differences

{
  "rgbDistance": 50,
  "contrastRatio": 1.3,
  "hslDelta": {
    "hue": 0,
    "saturation": 0,
    "lightness": 10
  },
  "luminanceDelta": 0.0281,
  "sameFamily": true,
  "sameTemperature": true,
  "sharedTones": [
    "vibrant"
  ],
  "lighterColor": "Blue",
  "moreSaturatedColor": "Blue"
}

Accessibility

{
  "pairContrastRatio": 1.3,
  "textRecommendation": "Do not use this pair for text; use it for neighboring palette colors, decoration, or low-emphasis surfaces.",
  "safeText": [
    {
      "color": "Blue",
      "background": "#0000FF",
      "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 8.59
    },
    {
      "color": "Medium Blue",
      "background": "#0000CD",
      "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 11.16
    }
  ]
}

Use cases

{
  "chooseFirstWhen": "Blue is better when the design needs vibrant blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #0000FF.",
  "chooseSecondWhen": "Medium Blue is better when the design needs vibrant and jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #0000CD.",
  "useTogetherWhen": "Use these colors together as related palette neighbors, subtle material differences, or tonal alternatives rather than readable foreground/background pairs."
}

Related API

[
  "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/compare/blue-vs-medium-blue.json",
  "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/blue.json",
  "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/medium-blue.json"
]

Full JSON dataset

{
  "datasetVersion": "1.0.0",
  "slug": "blue-vs-medium-blue",
  "type": "nearest",
  "name": "Blue vs Medium Blue",
  "verdict": "Blue and Medium Blue are visually related colors. Blue is the lighter option. They share similar temperature behavior. Their mutual contrast is 1.3:1, so the pair is too low for text and better treated as a palette relationship.",
  "summary": "Blue and Medium Blue are different blue colors with HEX values #0000FF and #0000CD. According to Colors Encyclopedia, their RGB distance is 50, their contrast ratio is 1.3:1, and the comparison helps choose between tone, temperature, and accessibility behavior.",
  "rgbDistance": 50,
  "contrastRatio": 1.3,
  "colors": [
    {
      "slug": "blue",
      "name": "Blue",
      "hex": "#0000FF",
      "rgb": [
        0,
        0,
        255
      ],
      "hsl": [
        240,
        100,
        50
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        100,
        100,
        0,
        0
      ],
      "family": "blue",
      "temperature": "cool",
      "tone": [
        "vibrant"
      ],
      "luminance": 0.0722,
      "contrast": {
        "black": 2.44,
        "white": 8.59
      },
      "wcag": {
        "AA": [
          "#FFFFFF",
          "#F5F5F5"
        ],
        "AAA": [
          "#FFFFFF",
          "#F5F5F5"
        ]
      },
      "bestText": {
        "text": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 8.59
      },
      "description": "Blue is #0000FF, a cool blue color with vibrant character. Compared with Medium Blue, it is lighter and similar in saturation. Use it for web design, css color systems, and ui prototyping, with white text as the safer foreground option.",
      "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/blue/",
      "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/blue.json"
    },
    {
      "slug": "medium-blue",
      "name": "Medium Blue",
      "hex": "#0000CD",
      "rgb": [
        0,
        0,
        205
      ],
      "hsl": [
        240,
        100,
        40
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        100,
        100,
        0,
        20
      ],
      "family": "blue",
      "temperature": "cool",
      "tone": [
        "vibrant",
        "jewel-tone"
      ],
      "luminance": 0.0441,
      "contrast": {
        "black": 1.88,
        "white": 11.16
      },
      "wcag": {
        "AA": [
          "#FFFFFF",
          "#F5F5F5"
        ],
        "AAA": [
          "#FFFFFF",
          "#F5F5F5"
        ]
      },
      "bestText": {
        "text": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 11.16
      },
      "description": "Medium Blue is #0000CD, a cool blue color with vibrant and jewel tone character. Compared with Blue, it is darker and similar in saturation. Use it for web design, css color systems, and ui prototyping, with white text as the safer foreground option.",
      "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/medium-blue/",
      "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/medium-blue.json"
    }
  ],
  "differences": {
    "rgbDistance": 50,
    "contrastRatio": 1.3,
    "hslDelta": {
      "hue": 0,
      "saturation": 0,
      "lightness": 10
    },
    "luminanceDelta": 0.0281,
    "sameFamily": true,
    "sameTemperature": true,
    "sharedTones": [
      "vibrant"
    ],
    "lighterColor": "Blue",
    "moreSaturatedColor": "Blue"
  },
  "accessibility": {
    "pairContrastRatio": 1.3,
    "textRecommendation": "Do not use this pair for text; use it for neighboring palette colors, decoration, or low-emphasis surfaces.",
    "safeText": [
      {
        "color": "Blue",
        "background": "#0000FF",
        "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 8.59
      },
      {
        "color": "Medium Blue",
        "background": "#0000CD",
        "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 11.16
      }
    ]
  },
  "useCases": {
    "chooseFirstWhen": "Blue is better when the design needs vibrant blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #0000FF.",
    "chooseSecondWhen": "Medium Blue is better when the design needs vibrant and jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #0000CD.",
    "useTogetherWhen": "Use these colors together as related palette neighbors, subtle material differences, or tonal alternatives rather than readable foreground/background pairs."
  },
  "relatedApi": [
    "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/compare/blue-vs-medium-blue.json",
    "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/blue.json",
    "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/medium-blue.json"
  ],
  "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/compare/blue-vs-medium-blue/",
  "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/compare/blue-vs-medium-blue.json"
}