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
Unknown specification # prefers-color-scheme

Browser compatibility

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