What is a pixel art color palette?

A pixel art color palette is a fixed, deliberately small set of colors you commit to for a sprite, a tileset, or a whole game. Limiting yourself forces clearer values and keeps every asset looking like it belongs to the same world, which is why hardware palettes like the Game Boy’s four greens still produce such readable art.

How many colors should a palette have?

For a single 16×16 or 32×32 sprite, 4 to 16 colors is plenty: one dark, one mid, one light per material, plus an outline. Reach for 32 or more only when a scene needs many materials at once. Fewer colors read better at small sizes and are far faster to shade consistently.

How do I use these palettes in MagicPixel?

Browsing and copying hex codes is free, and saving a palette takes a free account. Add a palette to your account here, then open the editor and it appears in the palette picker in the color sidebar. You can also snap an existing artboard to it from the palette button beside the canvas, which remaps every pixel to the nearest color in the set.

Can I import my own palette file?

Yes. The editor imports .gpl (GIMP / Aseprite), .pal (JASC and RIFF), and .hex files, so any palette file you download from a community site or export from another tool can be loaded as a custom palette.

How do I copy the hex codes?

Every palette has its own page listing each hex code. Click a single swatch to copy that one value, or use the copy button to grab the whole palette as a newline separated list you can paste into Aseprite, GIMP, Godot, Unity, or a CSS file.

Are these palettes free to use commercially?

Yes. Hardware and community palettes listed here are factual color sets or CC0 releases, and the MagicPixel-authored palettes are free to use in any project, commercial or otherwise. Colors themselves are not copyrightable.

Pixel art color palettes

Free palettes with every hex code listed: hardware classics like Game Boy, PICO-8 and NES, plus ramps built for dungeons, characters and tilesets. 256 palettes, one click to save any of them.

Every retro color palette here lists its full hex codes. Copy them straight off any palette page, or add a palette to your account and it shows up in the pixel art editor color sidebar, ready to draw with or to snap an existing sprite onto. Already have favourites from Aseprite or another editor? MagicPixel also imports .gpl, .pal and .hex palette files. New to working inside a limited set? Start with the color palette guide.

Chasing that 8-bit and 16-bit look? pulled straight from the consoles and computers that defined them.

Popular palettes: Game Boy DMG, PICO-8, NES, Commodore 64, CGA 16, ZX Spectrum.

40 palettes

Dungeon Stone

8 colors

A cold blue-gray stone ramp for corridors, block walls, and flagstone floors.

MagicPixel

dungeon
cool
grayscale

Dungeon Torchlit

12 colors

Warm torch falloff over cold stone: the classic dungeon-crawler lighting split.

MagicPixel

dungeon
warm
fire

Cave Depths

10 colors

A deep, desaturated blue ramp built for very dark interiors that still read clearly.

MagicPixel

dungeon
cool
dark

Crypt Bones

10 colors

Bone whites over cold crypt grays: skeletons, ossuaries, and dusty tombs.

MagicPixel

dungeon
horror
grayscale

Mine Shaft

10 colors

Timber, dirt, and ore-flecked rock for mineshafts, tunnels, and quarry tiles.

MagicPixel

dungeon
warm
stone

Ocean Depths

12 colors

A twelve-step descent from surface teal to abyssal near-black.

MagicPixel

nature
cool
water

Swamp Mire

10 colors

Murky olive greens and wet bark for bogs, moss, and stagnant water.

MagicPixel

nature
green
dark

Night Sky

10 colors

Deep night blues rising to starlight: backgrounds that never fight the sprite.

MagicPixel

sky
cool
dark

Volcano Ash

10 colors

Ashen grays warmed by cooling rock: volcanic slopes and burnt ground.

MagicPixel

environment
warm
dark

Lava Forge

10 colors

Black rock cracking into molten orange: lava tiles and forge interiors.

MagicPixel

fire
warm
dark

Necromancer

16 colors

Deathly greens and violet shadow with a blood accent for undead-themed sprites.

MagicPixel

characters
fantasy
horror

Ghost Veil

8 colors

Pale, cold translucency for spirits, mist forms, and phase-out frames.

MagicPixel

characters
horror
cool

Blood Moon

8 colors

A single crimson ramp for horror lighting, cursed skies, and vampire scenes.

MagicPixel

horror
warm
dark

Haunted Manor

12 colors

Dusty violets and old wood for gothic interiors, cobwebs, and candlelight.

MagicPixel

horror
dark
purple

Spellbook Arcane

10 colors

Glowing arcane violets for spell effects, runes, and magic-circle vfx.

MagicPixel

effects
fantasy
purple

City Neon

12 colors

Saturated signage colors on near-black: night streets and neon glow.

MagicPixel

cyberpunk
dark
vibrant

Cyber Alley

16 colors

A full cyberpunk kit: cold structural blues plus magenta and cyan light sources.

MagicPixel

cyberpunk
dark
city

Nebula Drift

12 colors

Deep-space violets rising to gas-cloud pinks for backdrops and starfields.

MagicPixel

sci-fi
purple
dark

Synthwave

12 colors

Grid-horizon purples with hot pink and turquoise for synthwave scenes.

MagicPixel

cyberpunk
dark
pink

UI Dark Mode

8 colors

A neutral dark-interface ramp for HUDs, menus, and pixel-art tooling.

MagicPixel

ui
cool
grayscale

Monochrome Purple 6

6 colors

A single violet ramp for magic passes, dusk overlays, and shadow studies.

MagicPixel

monochrome
purple
low-color

Gore & Guts

8 colors

A deep red ramp for wounds, splatter frames, and horror-game vfx.

MagicPixel

horror
red
effects

Ashen Wasteland

10 colors

Dead gray ash with rusted warms: burnt-out fields, ruined cities, post-eruption ground.

MagicPixel

environment
dark
muted

Sewer Runoff

10 colors

Damp mossy stone and stagnant water: underground tunnels and drainage tilesets.

MagicPixel

environment
dark
dungeon

Storm at Sea

10 colors

Slate waves and spray under a bruised sky: sea tiles that stay readable when everything is gray.

MagicPixel

environment
water
cool

Derelict Hull

10 colors

Cold ship metal with failing amber lighting: abandoned stations and horror-in-space corridors.

MagicPixel

sci-fi
metal
dark

Undead Pallor

11 colors

Bloodless gray-greens with bruised purples: zombies, revenants, and plague victims.

MagicPixel

characters
monsters
horror

Vampire Court

10 colors

Wine reds over violet shadow with a single gold accent: gothic nobility and crypt courts.

MagicPixel

characters
horror
purple

Assassin

10 colors

Near-black blues that still separate at low light, with dried-blood reds and a cloth highlight.

MagicPixel

characters
dark
cool

Shadow VFX

8 colors

A single violet-black ramp for dark magic, void portals, and shadow trails.

MagicPixel

effects
vfx
purple

Obsidian

8 colors

A very dark neutral ramp that still shades: obsidian, void tiles, and night silhouettes.

MagicPixel

texture
dark
stone

Four-Color Noir

4 colors

A cool four-value set for high-contrast noir sprites and silhouette-first layouts.

MagicPixel

low-color
grayscale
cool

Badlands Dusk

7 colors

Purple shadow into ember light for arid country at last light.

MagicPixel

environment
desert
sunset

Kelp Forest

7 colors

Submerged green ramp for kelp stalks, murk and filtered light.

MagicPixel

water
forest
green

Rust Belt Station

7 colors

Oxidized hull browns for aging stations and salvage corridors.

MagicPixel

sci-fi
industrial
metal

Void Runner

7 colors

Faster-than-light purples for deep-space hulls and warp interiors.

MagicPixel

sci-fi
purple
night

Wetware Pink

7 colors

Organic machine pinks for grown tech and unsettling biology.

MagicPixel

sci-fi
pink
horror

Witch Hut

7 colors

Candle-warmed clutter tones for hedge-magic cottages and shelves.

MagicPixel

fantasy
interior
dark

Lich Frost

7 colors

Grave-cold greens for undead sorcerers and cursed flame.

MagicPixel

monsters
horror
dark

UI Cool Slate

7 colors

Balanced dark-UI slate ramp with an accessible top contrast step.

MagicPixel

ui
cool
dark

Provenance and licensing. Hardware and system palettes here (Game Boy, PICO-8, CGA, C64, ZX Spectrum, NES and friends) are factual color sets from the machines themselves, credited on each card. Community palettes are included only when released CC0, credited to their authors. Every other palette is authored by MagicPixel. All of them are free to use in your projects, commercial work included, and color values themselves are not copyrightable.

Pixel art color palettes, explained

What is a pixel art color palette?: A pixel art color palette is a fixed, deliberately small set of colors you commit to for a sprite, a tileset, or a whole game. Limiting yourself forces clearer values and keeps every asset looking like it belongs to the same world, which is why hardware palettes like the Game Boy’s four greens still produce such readable art.
How many colors should a palette have?: For a single 16×16 or 32×32 sprite, 4 to 16 colors is plenty: one dark, one mid, one light per material, plus an outline. Reach for 32 or more only when a scene needs many materials at once. Fewer colors read better at small sizes and are far faster to shade consistently.
How do I use these palettes in MagicPixel?: Browsing and copying hex codes is free, and saving a palette takes a free account. Add a palette to your account here, then open the editor and it appears in the palette picker in the color sidebar. You can also snap an existing artboard to it from the palette button beside the canvas, which remaps every pixel to the nearest color in the set.
Can I import my own palette file?: Yes. The editor imports .gpl (GIMP / Aseprite), .pal (JASC and RIFF), and .hex files, so any palette file you download from a community site or export from another tool can be loaded as a custom palette.
How do I copy the hex codes?: Every palette has its own page listing each hex code. Click a single swatch to copy that one value, or use the copy button to grab the whole palette as a newline separated list you can paste into Aseprite, GIMP, Godot, Unity, or a CSS file.
Are these palettes free to use commercially?: Yes. Hardware and community palettes listed here are factual color sets or CC0 releases, and the MagicPixel-authored palettes are free to use in any project, commercial or otherwise. Colors themselves are not copyrightable.