Nearest-color comparison

Cedar vs Sienna

Cedar #8B5A2B vs Sienna #A0522D: RGB distance 22.6 and contrast 1.04:1. Compare hue, luminance, saturation, WCAG and practical use.

Cedar and Sienna are very close, with an RGB distance of 22.6. Sienna is lighter by 0.0072, and Sienna is more saturated by 3 percentage points. Their mutual contrast is 1.04:1. The pair is too close for a readable foreground/background combination and works better as neighboring palette colors.

Differences Use cases Accessibility JSON

Cedar#8B5A2B

Sienna#A0522D

Quick Difference Summary

The main measurable differences between Cedar and Sienna across RGB distance, luminance, hue, saturation, and contrast.

RGB distance22.6

Pair contrast1.04:1

Luminance delta0.0072

Hue delta10 deg

Lighter colorSienna

More saturatedSienna

Side-by-Side Color Profiles

orange color

Cedar

Cedar is #8B5A2B, a warm orange with hue 29°, saturation 53% and luminance 0.1298. Beside Sienna, it is darker and less saturated. Of the two standard text choices, white text gives the higher contrast at 5.84:1.

HEX#8B5A2B RGB139, 90, 43 HSL29, 53, 36 CMYK0, 35, 69, 45 Luminance0.1298 Best textwhite text

Color page WCAG HEX atlas

orange color

Sienna

Sienna is #A0522D, a warm orange with hue 19°, saturation 56% and luminance 0.137. Beside Cedar, it is lighter and more saturated. Of the two standard text choices, white text gives the higher contrast at 5.61:1.

HEX#A0522D RGB160, 82, 45 HSL19, 56, 40 CMYK0, 49, 72, 37 Luminance0.137 Best textwhite text

Color page WCAG HEX atlas

When to Use Cedar or Sienna

Choose CedarChoose Cedar when the design calls for earth tone orange color at #8B5A2B, with warm temperature and 36% HSL lightness.

Choose SiennaChoose Sienna when #A0522D, its earth tone orange character, or its 40% HSL lightness is the closer match.

Use togetherTreat them as tonal alternatives or adjacent palette steps, not as text and background. Their contrast is only 1.04:1. They share earth tone tone characteristics.

Technical Comparison Table

PropertyCedarSienna

HEX#8B5A2B#A0522D

RGB139, 90, 43160, 82, 45

HSL29, 53, 3619, 56, 40

CMYK0, 35, 69, 450, 49, 72, 37

FamilyOrangeOrange

TemperatureWarmWarm

ToneEarth ToneEarth Tone

Luminance0.12980.137

Black contrast3.6:13.74:1

White contrast5.84:15.61:1

Shared tonesEarth Tone

Accessibility and Contrast

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

Cedarwhite text - 5.84:1

Siennawhite text - 5.61:1

Downloadable color comparison infographic

Cedar vs Sienna Color Comparison Infographic

Save a high-resolution comparison infographic with both HEX colors, visual distance, mutual contrast, and accessibility guidance.

1200 × 800

Cedar vs Sienna color comparison infographic showing both HEX colors, RGB and HSL values, color distance, mutual contrast, and accessibility guidance. — Cedar vs Sienna color comparison infographic generated from the canonical dataset values shown on this page.

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Related Palette Strip

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

Cedar#8B5A2B

Sienna#A0522D

#C8884C#C8884C

#D07E58#D07E58

#2B5D8C#2B5D8C

#2D7B9F#2D7B9F

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": "cedar",
    "name": "Cedar",
    "hex": "#8B5A2B",
    "rgb": [
      139,
      90,
      43
    ],
    "hsl": [
      29,
      53,
      36
    ],
    "cmyk": [
      0,
      35,
      69,
      45
    ],
    "family": "orange",
    "temperature": "warm",
    "tone": [
      "earth-tone"
    ],
    "luminance": 0.1298,
    "contrast": {
      "black": 3.6,
      "white": 5.84
    },
    "wcag": {
      "AA": [
        "#FFFFFF",
        "#F5F5F5"
      ],
      "AAA": []
    },
    "bestText": {
      "text": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 5.84
    },
    "description": "Cedar is #8B5A2B, a warm orange color with earth tone character. Compared with Sienna, it is darker and less saturated. Use it for earth-tone palettes, interior design, and material-inspired branding, with white text as the safer foreground option.",
    "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/cedar/",
    "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/cedar.json"
  },
  {
    "slug": "sienna",
    "name": "Sienna",
    "hex": "#A0522D",
    "rgb": [
      160,
      82,
      45
    ],
    "hsl": [
      19,
      56,
      40
    ],
    "cmyk": [
      0,
      49,
      72,
      37
    ],
    "family": "orange",
    "temperature": "warm",
    "tone": [
      "earth-tone"
    ],
    "luminance": 0.137,
    "contrast": {
      "black": 3.74,
      "white": 5.61
    },
    "wcag": {
      "AA": [
        "#FFFFFF",
        "#F5F5F5"
      ],
      "AAA": []
    },
    "bestText": {
      "text": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 5.61
    },
    "description": "Sienna is #A0522D, a warm orange color with earth tone character. Compared with Cedar, it is lighter and more saturated. 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/sienna/",
    "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/sienna.json"
  }
]

Differences

{
  "rgbDistance": 22.6,
  "contrastRatio": 1.04,
  "hslDelta": {
    "hue": 10,
    "saturation": 3,
    "lightness": 4
  },
  "luminanceDelta": 0.0072,
  "sameFamily": true,
  "sameTemperature": true,
  "sharedTones": [
    "earth-tone"
  ],
  "lighterColor": "Sienna",
  "moreSaturatedColor": "Sienna"
}

Accessibility

{
  "pairContrastRatio": 1.04,
  "textRecommendation": "Do not use this pair for text; use it for neighboring palette colors, decoration, or low-emphasis surfaces.",
  "safeText": [
    {
      "color": "Cedar",
      "background": "#8B5A2B",
      "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 5.84
    },
    {
      "color": "Sienna",
      "background": "#A0522D",
      "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 5.61
    }
  ]
}

Use cases

{
  "chooseFirstWhen": "Cedar is better when the design needs earth tone orange character, warm temperature, and the specific HEX value #8B5A2B.",
  "chooseSecondWhen": "Sienna is better when the design needs earth tone orange character, warm temperature, and the specific HEX value #A0522D.",
  "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/cedar-vs-sienna.json",
  "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/cedar.json",
  "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/sienna.json"
]

Full JSON dataset

{
  "datasetVersion": "1.0.0",
  "slug": "cedar-vs-sienna",
  "type": "nearest",
  "name": "Cedar vs Sienna",
  "verdict": "Cedar and Sienna are very close colors. Sienna is the lighter option. They share similar temperature behavior. Their mutual contrast is 1.04:1, so the pair is too low for text and better treated as a palette relationship.",
  "summary": "Cedar and Sienna are different orange colors with HEX values #8B5A2B and #A0522D. According to Colors Encyclopedia, their RGB distance is 22.6, their contrast ratio is 1.04:1, and the comparison helps choose between tone, temperature, and accessibility behavior.",
  "rgbDistance": 22.6,
  "contrastRatio": 1.04,
  "colors": [
    {
      "slug": "cedar",
      "name": "Cedar",
      "hex": "#8B5A2B",
      "rgb": [
        139,
        90,
        43
      ],
      "hsl": [
        29,
        53,
        36
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        0,
        35,
        69,
        45
      ],
      "family": "orange",
      "temperature": "warm",
      "tone": [
        "earth-tone"
      ],
      "luminance": 0.1298,
      "contrast": {
        "black": 3.6,
        "white": 5.84
      },
      "wcag": {
        "AA": [
          "#FFFFFF",
          "#F5F5F5"
        ],
        "AAA": []
      },
      "bestText": {
        "text": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 5.84
      },
      "description": "Cedar is #8B5A2B, a warm orange color with earth tone character. Compared with Sienna, it is darker and less saturated. Use it for earth-tone palettes, interior design, and material-inspired branding, with white text as the safer foreground option.",
      "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/cedar/",
      "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/cedar.json"
    },
    {
      "slug": "sienna",
      "name": "Sienna",
      "hex": "#A0522D",
      "rgb": [
        160,
        82,
        45
      ],
      "hsl": [
        19,
        56,
        40
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        0,
        49,
        72,
        37
      ],
      "family": "orange",
      "temperature": "warm",
      "tone": [
        "earth-tone"
      ],
      "luminance": 0.137,
      "contrast": {
        "black": 3.74,
        "white": 5.61
      },
      "wcag": {
        "AA": [
          "#FFFFFF",
          "#F5F5F5"
        ],
        "AAA": []
      },
      "bestText": {
        "text": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 5.61
      },
      "description": "Sienna is #A0522D, a warm orange color with earth tone character. Compared with Cedar, it is lighter and more saturated. 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/sienna/",
      "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/sienna.json"
    }
  ],
  "differences": {
    "rgbDistance": 22.6,
    "contrastRatio": 1.04,
    "hslDelta": {
      "hue": 10,
      "saturation": 3,
      "lightness": 4
    },
    "luminanceDelta": 0.0072,
    "sameFamily": true,
    "sameTemperature": true,
    "sharedTones": [
      "earth-tone"
    ],
    "lighterColor": "Sienna",
    "moreSaturatedColor": "Sienna"
  },
  "accessibility": {
    "pairContrastRatio": 1.04,
    "textRecommendation": "Do not use this pair for text; use it for neighboring palette colors, decoration, or low-emphasis surfaces.",
    "safeText": [
      {
        "color": "Cedar",
        "background": "#8B5A2B",
        "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 5.84
      },
      {
        "color": "Sienna",
        "background": "#A0522D",
        "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 5.61
      }
    ]
  },
  "useCases": {
    "chooseFirstWhen": "Cedar is better when the design needs earth tone orange character, warm temperature, and the specific HEX value #8B5A2B.",
    "chooseSecondWhen": "Sienna is better when the design needs earth tone orange character, warm temperature, and the specific HEX value #A0522D.",
    "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/cedar-vs-sienna.json",
    "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/cedar.json",
    "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/sienna.json"
  ],
  "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/compare/cedar-vs-sienna/",
  "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/compare/cedar-vs-sienna.json"
}