prefers-color-scheme

The prefers-color-scheme CSS media feature is used to detect if the user has requested a light or dark color theme.

The user might indicate this preference through an operating system setting (e.g. light or dark mode) or a user agent setting.

Syntax

light: Indicates that user has notified that they prefer an interface that has a light theme, or has not expressed an active preference.
dark: Indicates that user has notified that they prefer an interface that has a dark theme.

Examples

The elements below have an initial color theme. They can be further themed according to the user's color scheme preference.

HTML

<div class="day">Day (initial)</div>
<div class="day light-scheme">Day (changes in light scheme)</div>
<div class="day dark-scheme">Day (changes in dark scheme)</div> <br>

<div class="night">Night (initial)</div>
<div class="night light-scheme">Night (changes in light scheme)</div>
<div class="night dark-scheme">Night (changes in dark scheme)</div>

CSS

.day   { background: #eee; color: black; }
.night { background: #333; color: white; }

@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  .day.dark-scheme   { background:  #333; color: white; }
  .night.dark-scheme { background: black; color:  #ddd; }
}

@media (prefers-color-scheme: light) {
  .day.light-scheme   { background: white; color:  #555; }
  .night.light-scheme { background:  #eee; color: black; }
}

.day, .night {
  display: inline-block;
  padding: 1em;
  width: 7em;
  height: 2em;
  vertical-align: middle;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
Media Queries Level 5 (Media Queries 5) # prefers-color-scheme

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser