HTML bgcolor Attribute

Last Updated : 12 Jul, 2025

The bgcolor attribute in HTML is used to set the background color of an HTML element. It accepts color names, hexadecimal color codes, or RGB values to customize the background appearance. However, bgcolor is considered deprecated in modern web development with the introduction and widespread adoption of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), specifically CSS background properties.

Today, over 95% of websites rely on CSS for styling purposes, including setting background colors, due to its superior flexibility, maintainability, and separation of concerns between structure and design. While bgcolor might still be found in legacy code or simple HTML examples, it is strongly recommended to use CSS for all background styling in modern web practices.

Note: The bgcolor attribute is not supported in HTML5.

Syntax

<"tag" bgcolor="color_name | hex_value | rgb_value">

Attribute Values

Attribute Values	Description
color_name	It sets the background color by using the color name. For example “red”.
hex_number	It sets the background color by using the color hex code. For example “#0000ff”.
rgb_number	It sets the background color by using the RGB code. For example: “RGB(0, 153, 0)”.

Supported tags

Tag	Description
<body>	Contains content visible to users.
<marquee>	Scrolls text or images within a container.
<table>	Organizes data into rows and columns.
<tbody>	Encloses main content rows within a table.
<td>	Represents data cells within a table row.
<tfoot>	Defines a footer section within a table.
<th>	Indicates header cells within a table row.
<thead>	Contains header rows within a table.
<tr>	Represents a table row, containing data or headers.
<col>	Defines properties for one or more table columns.
<colgroup>	Groups one or more columns in a table for styling.

Example 1: In this example, the table's background color is set to green using the bgcolor attribute.

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>
        HTML table bgcolor Attribute
    </title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>GeeksforGeeks</h1>
    <h2>HTML table bgcolor Attribute</h2>
    <table border="2" bgcolor="blue">
        <caption>
            Author Details
        </caption>
        <tr>
            <th>NAME</th>
            <th>AGE</th>
            <th>BRANCH</th>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>BITTU</td>
            <td>22</td>
            <td>CSE</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>RAM</td>
            <td>21</td>
            <td>ECE</td>
        </tr>
    </table>
</body>
</html>

Output:

Output

Example 2: In this example, the bgcolor attribute within the <body> tag is used to set the background color of the entire page to orange.

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>
        HTML body Bgcolor Attribute
    </title>
</head>
<!-- body tag starts here -->
<body text="white" bgcolor="green">
    <center>
        <h1>GeeksforGeeks</h1>
        <h2>
            HTML
            body bgcolor Attribute
        </h2>
        <p>
            It is a Computer
            Science portal For Geeks
        </p>
    </center>
</body>
<!-- body tag ends here -->
</html>

Output:

Output

Browser Support

Attribute
<bgcolor>	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Desktop	v1	v12	v1	v1	v15
Mobile	v18	‐	v4	v1	v14

HTML bgcolor Attribute

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