Nearest-color comparison

Olive vs Olive Drab

Olive and Olive Drab are different yellow and green colors with HEX values #808000 and #6B8E23. According to Colors Encyclopedia, their RGB distance is 43.2, their contrast ratio is 1.1:1, and the comparison helps choose between tone, temperature, and accessibility behavior.

Olive and Olive Drab are visually related colors. Olive Drab is the lighter option. Olive reads warmer. Their mutual contrast is 1.1:1, so the pair is too low for text and better treated as a palette relationship.

Differences Use cases Accessibility JSON

Olive#808000

Olive Drab#6B8E23

Quick Difference Summary

The main measurable differences between Olive and Olive Drab across RGB distance, luminance, hue, saturation, and contrast.

RGB distance43.2

Pair contrast1.1:1

Luminance delta0.0256

Hue delta20 deg

Lighter colorOlive Drab

More saturatedOlive

Side-by-Side Color Profiles

yellow color

Olive

Olive is #808000, a warm yellow color with balanced character. Compared with Olive Drab, it is darker and more saturated. Use it for web design, css color systems, and ui prototyping, with black text as the safer foreground option.

HEX#808000 RGB128, 128, 0 HSL60, 100, 25 CMYK0, 0, 100, 50 Luminance0.2003 Best textblack text

Color page WCAG HEX atlas

green color

Olive Drab

Olive Drab is #6B8E23, a cool green color with earth tone and jewel tone character. Compared with Olive, it is lighter and less saturated. Use it for web design, css color systems, and ui prototyping, with black text as the safer foreground option.

HEX#6B8E23 RGB107, 142, 35 HSL80, 60, 35 CMYK25, 0, 75, 44 Luminance0.2259 Best textblack text

Color page WCAG HEX atlas

When to Use Olive or Olive Drab

Choose OliveOlive is better when the design needs balanced yellow character, warm temperature, and the specific HEX value #808000.

Choose Olive DrabOlive Drab is better when the design needs earth tone and jewel tone green character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #6B8E23.

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

Technical Comparison Table

PropertyOliveOlive Drab

HEX#808000#6B8E23

RGB128, 128, 0107, 142, 35

HSL60, 100, 2580, 60, 35

CMYK0, 0, 100, 5025, 0, 75, 44

FamilyYellowGreen

TemperatureWarmCool

ToneBalancedEarth Tone, Jewel Tone

Luminance0.20030.2259

Black contrast5.01:15.52:1

White contrast4.19:13.81:1

Shared tonesNone

Accessibility and Contrast

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

Oliveblack text - 5.01:1

Olive Drabblack text - 5.52:1

Related Palette Strip

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

Olive#808000

Olive Leaf#6B8E23

#DBDB00#DBDB00

#9FCF3F#9FCF3F

Navy Blue#000080

#47248F#47248F

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": "olive",
    "name": "Olive",
    "hex": "#808000",
    "rgb": [
      128,
      128,
      0
    ],
    "hsl": [
      60,
      100,
      25
    ],
    "cmyk": [
      0,
      0,
      100,
      50
    ],
    "family": "yellow",
    "temperature": "warm",
    "tone": [
      "balanced"
    ],
    "luminance": 0.2003,
    "contrast": {
      "black": 5.01,
      "white": 4.19
    },
    "wcag": {
      "AA": [
        "#000000"
      ],
      "AAA": []
    },
    "bestText": {
      "text": "#000000",
      "label": "black text",
      "ratio": 5.01
    },
    "description": "Olive is #808000, a warm yellow color with balanced character. Compared with Olive Drab, it is darker and more saturated. Use it for web design, css color systems, and ui prototyping, with black text as the safer foreground option.",
    "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/olive/",
    "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/olive.json"
  },
  {
    "slug": "olive-drab",
    "name": "Olive Drab",
    "hex": "#6B8E23",
    "rgb": [
      107,
      142,
      35
    ],
    "hsl": [
      80,
      60,
      35
    ],
    "cmyk": [
      25,
      0,
      75,
      44
    ],
    "family": "green",
    "temperature": "cool",
    "tone": [
      "earth-tone",
      "jewel-tone"
    ],
    "luminance": 0.2259,
    "contrast": {
      "black": 5.52,
      "white": 3.81
    },
    "wcag": {
      "AA": [
        "#000000",
        "#1A1A1A"
      ],
      "AAA": []
    },
    "bestText": {
      "text": "#000000",
      "label": "black text",
      "ratio": 5.52
    },
    "description": "Olive Drab is #6B8E23, a cool green color with earth tone and jewel tone character. Compared with Olive, it is lighter and less saturated. Use it for web design, css color systems, and ui prototyping, with black text as the safer foreground option.",
    "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/olive-drab/",
    "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/olive-drab.json"
  }
]

Differences

{
  "rgbDistance": 43.2,
  "contrastRatio": 1.1,
  "hslDelta": {
    "hue": 20,
    "saturation": 40,
    "lightness": 10
  },
  "luminanceDelta": 0.0256,
  "sameFamily": false,
  "sameTemperature": false,
  "sharedTones": [],
  "lighterColor": "Olive Drab",
  "moreSaturatedColor": "Olive"
}

Accessibility

{
  "pairContrastRatio": 1.1,
  "textRecommendation": "Do not use this pair for text; use it for neighboring palette colors, decoration, or low-emphasis surfaces.",
  "safeText": [
    {
      "color": "Olive",
      "background": "#808000",
      "foreground": "#000000",
      "label": "black text",
      "ratio": 5.01
    },
    {
      "color": "Olive Drab",
      "background": "#6B8E23",
      "foreground": "#000000",
      "label": "black text",
      "ratio": 5.52
    }
  ]
}

Use cases

{
  "chooseFirstWhen": "Olive is better when the design needs balanced yellow character, warm temperature, and the specific HEX value #808000.",
  "chooseSecondWhen": "Olive Drab is better when the design needs earth tone and jewel tone green character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #6B8E23.",
  "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/olive-vs-olive-drab.json",
  "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/olive.json",
  "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/olive-drab.json"
]

Full JSON dataset

{
  "datasetVersion": "1.0.0",
  "slug": "olive-vs-olive-drab",
  "type": "nearest",
  "name": "Olive vs Olive Drab",
  "verdict": "Olive and Olive Drab are visually related colors. Olive Drab is the lighter option. Olive reads warmer. Their mutual contrast is 1.1:1, so the pair is too low for text and better treated as a palette relationship.",
  "summary": "Olive and Olive Drab are different yellow and green colors with HEX values #808000 and #6B8E23. According to Colors Encyclopedia, their RGB distance is 43.2, their contrast ratio is 1.1:1, and the comparison helps choose between tone, temperature, and accessibility behavior.",
  "rgbDistance": 43.2,
  "contrastRatio": 1.1,
  "colors": [
    {
      "slug": "olive",
      "name": "Olive",
      "hex": "#808000",
      "rgb": [
        128,
        128,
        0
      ],
      "hsl": [
        60,
        100,
        25
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        0,
        0,
        100,
        50
      ],
      "family": "yellow",
      "temperature": "warm",
      "tone": [
        "balanced"
      ],
      "luminance": 0.2003,
      "contrast": {
        "black": 5.01,
        "white": 4.19
      },
      "wcag": {
        "AA": [
          "#000000"
        ],
        "AAA": []
      },
      "bestText": {
        "text": "#000000",
        "label": "black text",
        "ratio": 5.01
      },
      "description": "Olive is #808000, a warm yellow color with balanced character. Compared with Olive Drab, it is darker and more saturated. Use it for web design, css color systems, and ui prototyping, with black text as the safer foreground option.",
      "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/olive/",
      "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/olive.json"
    },
    {
      "slug": "olive-drab",
      "name": "Olive Drab",
      "hex": "#6B8E23",
      "rgb": [
        107,
        142,
        35
      ],
      "hsl": [
        80,
        60,
        35
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        25,
        0,
        75,
        44
      ],
      "family": "green",
      "temperature": "cool",
      "tone": [
        "earth-tone",
        "jewel-tone"
      ],
      "luminance": 0.2259,
      "contrast": {
        "black": 5.52,
        "white": 3.81
      },
      "wcag": {
        "AA": [
          "#000000",
          "#1A1A1A"
        ],
        "AAA": []
      },
      "bestText": {
        "text": "#000000",
        "label": "black text",
        "ratio": 5.52
      },
      "description": "Olive Drab is #6B8E23, a cool green color with earth tone and jewel tone character. Compared with Olive, it is lighter and less saturated. Use it for web design, css color systems, and ui prototyping, with black text as the safer foreground option.",
      "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/olive-drab/",
      "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/olive-drab.json"
    }
  ],
  "differences": {
    "rgbDistance": 43.2,
    "contrastRatio": 1.1,
    "hslDelta": {
      "hue": 20,
      "saturation": 40,
      "lightness": 10
    },
    "luminanceDelta": 0.0256,
    "sameFamily": false,
    "sameTemperature": false,
    "sharedTones": [],
    "lighterColor": "Olive Drab",
    "moreSaturatedColor": "Olive"
  },
  "accessibility": {
    "pairContrastRatio": 1.1,
    "textRecommendation": "Do not use this pair for text; use it for neighboring palette colors, decoration, or low-emphasis surfaces.",
    "safeText": [
      {
        "color": "Olive",
        "background": "#808000",
        "foreground": "#000000",
        "label": "black text",
        "ratio": 5.01
      },
      {
        "color": "Olive Drab",
        "background": "#6B8E23",
        "foreground": "#000000",
        "label": "black text",
        "ratio": 5.52
      }
    ]
  },
  "useCases": {
    "chooseFirstWhen": "Olive is better when the design needs balanced yellow character, warm temperature, and the specific HEX value #808000.",
    "chooseSecondWhen": "Olive Drab is better when the design needs earth tone and jewel tone green character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #6B8E23.",
    "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/olive-vs-olive-drab.json",
    "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/olive.json",
    "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/olive-drab.json"
  ],
  "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/compare/olive-vs-olive-drab/",
  "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/compare/olive-vs-olive-drab.json"
}