TFT_eSPI Color Constants: Full RGB565 Palette Guide

TFT_eSPI represents colors as 16-bit RGB565 values. In this encoding, the upper 5 bits hold red (0–31), the middle 6 bits hold green (0–63), and the lower 5 bits hold blue (0–31). Because the human eye is most sensitive to green, it receives the extra bit. A raw uint16_t value such as 0xF800 therefore means pure red: 11111 000000 00000 in binary. TFT_eSPI ships with 25 named color constants covering the most common UI colors, so you rarely need to calculate raw hex values yourself.

Named color constants

The table below lists every constant defined in TFT_eSPI.h, its 16-bit hexadecimal value, and the approximate 8-bit per-channel RGB components that the value encodes.

Constant	Hex value	Red	Green	Blue	Notes
`TFT_BLACK`	`0x0000`	0	0	0
`TFT_NAVY`	`0x000F`	0	0	128
`TFT_DARKGREEN`	`0x03E0`	0	128	0
`TFT_DARKCYAN`	`0x03EF`	0	128	128
`TFT_MAROON`	`0x7800`	128	0	0
`TFT_PURPLE`	`0x780F`	128	0	128
`TFT_OLIVE`	`0x7BE0`	128	128	0
`TFT_LIGHTGREY`	`0xD69A`	211	211	211
`TFT_DARKGREY`	`0x7BEF`	128	128	128
`TFT_BLUE`	`0x001F`	0	0	255
`TFT_GREEN`	`0x07E0`	0	255	0
`TFT_CYAN`	`0x07FF`	0	255	255
`TFT_RED`	`0xF800`	255	0	0
`TFT_MAGENTA`	`0xF81F`	255	0	255
`TFT_YELLOW`	`0xFFE0`	255	255	0
`TFT_WHITE`	`0xFFFF`	255	255	255
`TFT_ORANGE`	`0xFDA0`	255	180	0
`TFT_GREENYELLOW`	`0xB7E0`	180	255	0
`TFT_PINK`	`0xFE19`	255	192	203	Lighter pink (was `0xFC9F`)
`TFT_BROWN`	`0x9A60`	150	75	0
`TFT_GOLD`	`0xFEA0`	255	215	0
`TFT_SILVER`	`0xC618`	192	192	192
`TFT_SKYBLUE`	`0x867D`	135	206	235
`TFT_VIOLET`	`0x915C`	180	46	226
`TFT_TRANSPARENT`	`0x0120`	—	—	—	Special value — see below

`TFT_TRANSPARENT`

TFT_TRANSPARENT (0x0120) is a special sentinel value chosen because it round-trips cleanly between 8-bit and 16-bit color representations. When TFT_eSPI converts a 16-bit color down to 8 bits for indexed-color sprites and then expands it back to 16 bits, most values do not survive the trip exactly. 0x0120 is mathematically guaranteed to encode and decode to the same value, making it a reliable marker for “this pixel should be transparent.” The color itself renders as a very dark green, which is rarely found in real UI artwork and therefore safe to use as a chroma-key.

// Create a sprite with transparent background
TFT_eSprite spr = TFT_eSprite(&tft);
spr.createSprite(60, 30);
spr.fillSprite(TFT_TRANSPARENT);   // mark all pixels transparent
// … draw only the parts you want visible …
spr.pushSprite(x, y, TFT_TRANSPARENT); // skip transparent pixels on push

Default 4-bit palette for color sprites

4-bit sprites store a palette index (0–15) per pixel rather than a full color value, keeping memory usage low. TFT_eSPI defines a default 16-entry palette in default_4bit_palette[]. Indices 0–9 follow the resistor color code (black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple/violet, grey, white), making the mapping easy to memorise.

static const uint16_t default_4bit_palette[];

Index	Color constant	Notes
0	`TFT_BLACK`	↑ Resistor color code (indices 0–9)
1	`TFT_BROWN`
2	`TFT_RED`
3	`TFT_ORANGE`
4	`TFT_YELLOW`
5	`TFT_GREEN`
6	`TFT_BLUE`
7	`TFT_PURPLE`	↓ Resistor color code (indices 0–9)
8	`TFT_DARKGREY`
9	`TFT_WHITE`
10	`TFT_CYAN`	Blue + green mix
11	`TFT_MAGENTA`	Blue + red mix
12	`TFT_MAROON`	Darker red
13	`TFT_DARKGREEN`	Darker green
14	`TFT_NAVY`	Darker blue
15	`TFT_PINK`

You can supply a custom palette array when calling pushSprite() on a 4-bit sprite. The default palette only applies when no custom palette is specified.

Creating custom colors with `color565()`

When you need a color not in the predefined list, use the static helper TFT_eSPI::color565() to convert standard 8-bit-per-channel RGB values into the 16-bit RGB565 format:

// Syntax
uint16_t TFT_eSPI::color565(uint8_t r, uint8_t g, uint8_t b);

// Examples
uint16_t coral     = tft.color565(255, 127, 80);
uint16_t teal      = tft.color565(0,   128, 128);
uint16_t lavender  = tft.color565(230, 230, 250);

tft.fillScreen(coral);
tft.drawString("Hello!", 10, 10, 4);

Because RGB565 has only 5 or 6 bits per channel, the converted value is a close approximation of the requested color, not an exact match. color565(255, 128, 0) and color565(255, 132, 0) may produce the same 16-bit output.

TFT_eSPI Class

TFT_eSPI_Button Class

Constants & Types

TFT_eSPI Color Constants: Full RGB565 Palette Guide

Named color constants

`TFT_TRANSPARENT`

Default 4-bit palette for color sprites

Creating custom colors with `color565()`

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

TFT_eSPI Class

TFT_eSPI_Button Class

Constants & Types

Documentation Index

​Named color constants

​TFT_TRANSPARENT

​Default 4-bit palette for color sprites

​Creating custom colors with color565()

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Named color constants

`TFT_TRANSPARENT`

Default 4-bit palette for color sprites

Creating custom colors with `color565()`