Commodore 64 color palette
The fixed 16-colour Commodore 64 palette as hex codes in hardware order, with multicolour-mode rules explained and GPL/HEX/PNG downloads.
Click a swatch to copy its hex code.
Limits you’re designing around
Fixed 16 colours from the VIC-II chip. Hi-res sprites are 24×21 in one colour; multicolour sprites are 12×21 double-wide pixels with 3 colours plus transparency, two of them shared by all sprites.
About the Commodore 64 palette
The VIC-II has a fixed palette of 16 colours in a set order (black, white, red, cyan, purple, green, blue, yellow, orange, brown, light red, dark grey, grey, light green, light blue, light grey). These are the classic emulator values used by VICE.
Multicolour bitmap mode halves horizontal resolution to 160×200, giving the C64 its famous wide pixels. Draw on a 2:1 pixel grid if you want authentic C64 art.
Because the colours are muted and paired by brightness, C64 artists relied heavily on dithering between colours of similar luminance.
Draw with it now in the pixel art editor, or convert a picture to these colours.
Hex codes
| # | Colour | Hex | RGB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | #000000 | 0, 0, 0 | |
| 1 | #FFFFFF | 255, 255, 255 | |
| 2 | #880000 | 136, 0, 0 | |
| 3 | #AAFFEE | 170, 255, 238 | |
| 4 | #CC44CC | 204, 68, 204 | |
| 5 | #00CC55 | 0, 204, 85 | |
| 6 | #0000AA | 0, 0, 170 | |
| 7 | #EEEE77 | 238, 238, 119 | |
| 8 | #DD8855 | 221, 136, 85 | |
| 9 | #664400 | 102, 68, 0 | |
| 10 | #FF7777 | 255, 119, 119 | |
| 11 | #333333 | 51, 51, 51 | |
| 12 | #777777 | 119, 119, 119 | |
| 13 | #AAFF66 | 170, 255, 102 | |
| 14 | #0088FF | 0, 136, 255 | |
| 15 | #BBBBBB | 187, 187, 187 |
Other palettes
Frequently asked questions
How many colours are in the Commodore 64 palette?
This version has 16 colours. Fixed 16 colours from the VIC-II chip. Hi-res sprites are 24×21 in one colour; multicolour sprites are 12×21 double-wide pixels with 3 colours plus transparency, two of them shared by all sprites.
How do I use the Commodore 64 palette in PixelMint?
Open the editor and pick “Commodore 64” from the palette menu beside the canvas. To convert an existing picture to these colours, choose Commodore 64 in the image to pixel art converter.
Which file should I download?
GPL for Aseprite, GIMP, Krita and Inkscape; HEX for Lospec-compatible tools and quick copy-paste; PNG for anything else (and for loading as a palette image in Aseprite or Pyxel Edit).