Nearest-color comparison

Ultramarine vs Navy

Ultramarine #120A8F vs Navy #000080: RGB distance 25.5 and contrast 1.12:1. Compare hue, luminance, saturation, WCAG and practical use.

Ultramarine and Navy are related but distinguishable, with an RGB distance of 25.5. Ultramarine is lighter by 0.0077, and Navy is more saturated by 13 percentage points. Their mutual contrast is 1.12:1. The pair is too close for a readable foreground/background combination and works better as neighboring palette colors.

Differences Use cases Accessibility JSON

Ultramarine#120A8F

Navy#000080

Quick Difference Summary

The main measurable differences between Ultramarine and Navy across RGB distance, luminance, hue, saturation, and contrast.

RGB distance25.5

Pair contrast1.12:1

Luminance delta0.0077

Hue delta4 deg

Lighter colorUltramarine

More saturatedNavy

Side-by-Side Color Profiles

blue color

Ultramarine

Ultramarine is #120A8F, a cool blue with hue 244°, saturation 87% and luminance 0.0233. Beside Navy, it is lighter and less saturated. Of the two standard text choices, white text gives the higher contrast at 14.32:1.

HEX#120A8F RGB18, 10, 143 HSL244, 87, 30 CMYK87, 93, 0, 44 Luminance0.0233 Best textwhite text

Color page WCAG HEX atlas

blue color

Navy

Navy is #000080, a cool blue with hue 240°, saturation 100% and luminance 0.0156. Beside Ultramarine, it is darker and more saturated. Of the two standard text choices, white text gives the higher contrast at 16.01:1.

HEX#000080 RGB0, 0, 128 HSL240, 100, 25 CMYK100, 100, 0, 50 Luminance0.0156 Best textwhite text

Color page WCAG HEX atlas

When to Use Ultramarine or Navy

Choose UltramarineChoose Ultramarine when the design calls for jewel tone blue color at #120A8F, with cool temperature and 30% HSL lightness.

Choose NavyChoose Navy when #000080, its jewel tone blue character, or its 25% 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 1.12:1. They share jewel tone tone characteristics.

Technical Comparison Table

PropertyUltramarineNavy

HEX#120A8F#000080

RGB18, 10, 1430, 0, 128

HSL244, 87, 30240, 100, 25

CMYK87, 93, 0, 44100, 100, 0, 50

FamilyBlueBlue

TemperatureCoolCool

ToneJewel ToneJewel Tone

Luminance0.02330.0156

Black contrast1.47:11.31:1

White contrast14.32:116.01:1

Shared tonesJewel Tone

Accessibility and Contrast

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

Ultramarinewhite text - 14.32:1

Navywhite text - 16.01:1

Downloadable color comparison infographic

Ultramarine vs Navy Color Comparison Infographic

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

1200 × 800

Ultramarine vs Navy color comparison infographic showing both HEX colors, RGB and HSL values, color distance, mutual contrast, and accessibility guidance. — Ultramarine vs Navy 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.

Ultramarine#120A8F

Navy Blue#000080

#1E10E5#1E10E5

#0000DB#0000DB

#868F0A#868F0A

#7F8000#7F8000

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": "ultramarine",
    "name": "Ultramarine",
    "hex": "#120A8F",
    "rgb": [
      18,
      10,
      143
    ],
    "hsl": [
      244,
      87,
      30
    ],
    "cmyk": [
      87,
      93,
      0,
      44
    ],
    "family": "blue",
    "temperature": "cool",
    "tone": [
      "jewel-tone"
    ],
    "luminance": 0.0233,
    "contrast": {
      "black": 1.47,
      "white": 14.32
    },
    "wcag": {
      "AA": [
        "#FFFFFF",
        "#F5F5F5"
      ],
      "AAA": [
        "#FFFFFF",
        "#F5F5F5"
      ]
    },
    "bestText": {
      "text": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 14.32
    },
    "description": "Ultramarine is #120A8F, a cool blue color with jewel tone character. Compared with Navy, it is lighter and less saturated. Use it for historical references, pigment palettes, and cultural color systems, with white text as the safer foreground option.",
    "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/ultramarine/",
    "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/ultramarine.json"
  },
  {
    "slug": "navy",
    "name": "Navy",
    "hex": "#000080",
    "rgb": [
      0,
      0,
      128
    ],
    "hsl": [
      240,
      100,
      25
    ],
    "cmyk": [
      100,
      100,
      0,
      50
    ],
    "family": "blue",
    "temperature": "cool",
    "tone": [
      "jewel-tone"
    ],
    "luminance": 0.0156,
    "contrast": {
      "black": 1.31,
      "white": 16.01
    },
    "wcag": {
      "AA": [
        "#FFFFFF",
        "#F5F5F5"
      ],
      "AAA": [
        "#FFFFFF",
        "#F5F5F5"
      ]
    },
    "bestText": {
      "text": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 16.01
    },
    "description": "Navy is #000080, a cool blue color with jewel tone character. Compared with Ultramarine, it is darker 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/navy/",
    "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/navy.json"
  }
]

Differences

{
  "rgbDistance": 25.5,
  "contrastRatio": 1.12,
  "hslDelta": {
    "hue": 4,
    "saturation": 13,
    "lightness": 5
  },
  "luminanceDelta": 0.0077,
  "sameFamily": true,
  "sameTemperature": true,
  "sharedTones": [
    "jewel-tone"
  ],
  "lighterColor": "Ultramarine",
  "moreSaturatedColor": "Navy"
}

Accessibility

{
  "pairContrastRatio": 1.12,
  "textRecommendation": "Do not use this pair for text; use it for neighboring palette colors, decoration, or low-emphasis surfaces.",
  "safeText": [
    {
      "color": "Ultramarine",
      "background": "#120A8F",
      "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 14.32
    },
    {
      "color": "Navy",
      "background": "#000080",
      "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
      "label": "white text",
      "ratio": 16.01
    }
  ]
}

Use cases

{
  "chooseFirstWhen": "Ultramarine is better when the design needs jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #120A8F.",
  "chooseSecondWhen": "Navy is better when the design needs jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #000080.",
  "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/ultramarine-vs-navy.json",
  "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/ultramarine.json",
  "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/navy.json"
]

Full JSON dataset

{
  "datasetVersion": "1.0.0",
  "slug": "ultramarine-vs-navy",
  "type": "nearest",
  "name": "Ultramarine vs Navy",
  "verdict": "Ultramarine and Navy are visually related colors. Ultramarine is the lighter option. They share similar temperature behavior. Their mutual contrast is 1.12:1, so the pair is too low for text and better treated as a palette relationship.",
  "summary": "Ultramarine and Navy are different blue colors with HEX values #120A8F and #000080. According to Colors Encyclopedia, their RGB distance is 25.5, their contrast ratio is 1.12:1, and the comparison helps choose between tone, temperature, and accessibility behavior.",
  "rgbDistance": 25.5,
  "contrastRatio": 1.12,
  "colors": [
    {
      "slug": "ultramarine",
      "name": "Ultramarine",
      "hex": "#120A8F",
      "rgb": [
        18,
        10,
        143
      ],
      "hsl": [
        244,
        87,
        30
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        87,
        93,
        0,
        44
      ],
      "family": "blue",
      "temperature": "cool",
      "tone": [
        "jewel-tone"
      ],
      "luminance": 0.0233,
      "contrast": {
        "black": 1.47,
        "white": 14.32
      },
      "wcag": {
        "AA": [
          "#FFFFFF",
          "#F5F5F5"
        ],
        "AAA": [
          "#FFFFFF",
          "#F5F5F5"
        ]
      },
      "bestText": {
        "text": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 14.32
      },
      "description": "Ultramarine is #120A8F, a cool blue color with jewel tone character. Compared with Navy, it is lighter and less saturated. Use it for historical references, pigment palettes, and cultural color systems, with white text as the safer foreground option.",
      "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/colors/ultramarine/",
      "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/ultramarine.json"
    },
    {
      "slug": "navy",
      "name": "Navy",
      "hex": "#000080",
      "rgb": [
        0,
        0,
        128
      ],
      "hsl": [
        240,
        100,
        25
      ],
      "cmyk": [
        100,
        100,
        0,
        50
      ],
      "family": "blue",
      "temperature": "cool",
      "tone": [
        "jewel-tone"
      ],
      "luminance": 0.0156,
      "contrast": {
        "black": 1.31,
        "white": 16.01
      },
      "wcag": {
        "AA": [
          "#FFFFFF",
          "#F5F5F5"
        ],
        "AAA": [
          "#FFFFFF",
          "#F5F5F5"
        ]
      },
      "bestText": {
        "text": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 16.01
      },
      "description": "Navy is #000080, a cool blue color with jewel tone character. Compared with Ultramarine, it is darker 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/navy/",
      "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/navy.json"
    }
  ],
  "differences": {
    "rgbDistance": 25.5,
    "contrastRatio": 1.12,
    "hslDelta": {
      "hue": 4,
      "saturation": 13,
      "lightness": 5
    },
    "luminanceDelta": 0.0077,
    "sameFamily": true,
    "sameTemperature": true,
    "sharedTones": [
      "jewel-tone"
    ],
    "lighterColor": "Ultramarine",
    "moreSaturatedColor": "Navy"
  },
  "accessibility": {
    "pairContrastRatio": 1.12,
    "textRecommendation": "Do not use this pair for text; use it for neighboring palette colors, decoration, or low-emphasis surfaces.",
    "safeText": [
      {
        "color": "Ultramarine",
        "background": "#120A8F",
        "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 14.32
      },
      {
        "color": "Navy",
        "background": "#000080",
        "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
        "label": "white text",
        "ratio": 16.01
      }
    ]
  },
  "useCases": {
    "chooseFirstWhen": "Ultramarine is better when the design needs jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #120A8F.",
    "chooseSecondWhen": "Navy is better when the design needs jewel tone blue character, cool temperature, and the specific HEX value #000080.",
    "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/ultramarine-vs-navy.json",
    "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/ultramarine.json",
    "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/colors/navy.json"
  ],
  "url": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/compare/ultramarine-vs-navy/",
  "apiUrl": "https://www.colorsencyclopedia.com/api/compare/ultramarine-vs-navy.json"
}