Gray Background Generator
Make a gray (grey) background or wallpaper in 10 styles. Two are drawn only for gray: a studio backdrop (a paper sweep lit by one soft light, with the shadow where wall meets floor) and fog banks (layered mist bands, lighter behind, darker in front). The other eight are a gradient, soft clouds, a checkerboard, grid paper, marble, paper, soft blobs and polka dots. Pick one of 10 sets of grays, from silver, mist and dove gray to neutral, warm and cool gray, slate, ash, graphite and charcoal. Every colour stays gray: each set is checked against one stated range, and so is every pixel of the picture. Set the number of shapes, squares, rings or layers, the angle, the softness and the grain. Every picture comes from a seed number: the same seed and size always give the same picture, and New seed gives you a new one. Choose desktop, 4K, phone, a 16:9 video-call background, tablet, square, banner or your own size up to 4096 pixels, then download a PNG or JPG, or a PDF to print. Nothing is uploaded.
100% private — everything runs in your browser. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
The preview is the same picture drawn smaller. PNG and JPG download at the full size; the PDF fits the picture on one page.
Picture
Details
Every colour stays gray: saturation 8 % or less, lightness 5 %–97 %.
Runs in your browser with our own code: nothing is uploaded or saved. Every gradient, light, mist band, check, line, vein, cloud, blob and dot is drawn by our own code from the seed; it is artwork, not a photograph. You may use what you make here, including commercially, with no credit needed.
How to make a gray background
- Pick a preset: gradient, studio backdrop, fog banks, checks, grid, marble, paper, clouds, blobs or dots.
- Choose the style and one of the sets of grays.
- Set the number of shapes, squares, rings or layers, the angle, the softness and the grain.
- Press New seed for a new picture; the same seed always gives the same one.
- Choose a size and download the PNG or JPG, or the print PDF.
What you can use it for
- Plain backdrops to place a portrait or product cut-out on
- Calm video-call backgrounds
- Phone lock screens and quiet desktop wallpapers
- Slides, title cards and thumbnails that let the text lead
- Moody, misty posts and covers
- Printed backing paper for cards and scrapbooks
The 16 presets
| Preset | Style | Grays | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soft gray gradient | Gradient | Neutral gray | 1920 × 1080 |
| Gray studio backdrop | Studio backdrop | Neutral gray | 1920 × 1080 |
| Gray fog banks | Fog banks | Mist | 1920 × 1080 |
| Gray checkerboard | Checkerboard | Cool gray | 1920 × 1080 |
| Gray grid paper | Grid | Silver | 1920 × 1080 |
| Gray marble | Marble | Dove gray | 1920 × 1080 |
| Warm gray paper texture | Paper | Warm gray | 1920 × 1080 |
| Soft gray clouds | Soft clouds | Slate gray | 1920 × 1080 |
| Soft ash blobs | Soft blobs | Ash | 1920 × 1080 |
| Gray polka dots | Polka dots | Graphite | 1920 × 1080 |
| Charcoal gradient | Gradient | Charcoal | 1920 × 1080 |
| Warm gray portrait backdrop | Studio backdrop | Warm gray | 1920 × 1080 |
| Slate fog banks | Fog banks | Slate gray | 1920 × 1080 |
| Phone wallpaper: charcoal fog | Fog banks | Charcoal | 1170 × 2532 |
| Video call: gray studio backdrop | Studio backdrop | Cool gray | 1920 × 1080 |
| 4K silver marble | Marble | Silver | 3840 × 2160 |
Each preset only fills in the fields; change any setting afterwards.
The 10 styles
| Style | What is drawn |
|---|---|
| Studio backdrop (gray only) | A paper sweep lit by one soft light, lightest at the light, with a soft shadow where the wall meets the floor |
| Fog banks (gray only) | A pale sky over 2 to 12 mist bands with soft wavy tops, every nearer band darker |
| Gradient | A smooth blend of three colours of the set at the angle you set |
| Soft clouds | Soft rounded clouds in a lighter shade on a deeper sky |
| Checkerboard | Squares of two shades, straight or turned (45° gives diamonds) |
| Grid | Fine light grid lines with a heavier line every fourth square, like graph paper |
| Marble | Stone with soft winding light veins |
| Paper | A soft paper texture with tiny fibres |
| Soft blobs | Large blurred circles of colour |
| Polka dots | Round dots in rows, straight or turned |
The 10 sets of grays
| Grays | The five colours | Saturation and lightness (worked out by the tool) |
|---|---|---|
| Neutral gray | #ebebeb, #c7c7c7, #999999, #666666, #383838 | saturation 0–0 %; lightness 22–92 % |
| Warm gray | #ebebea, #c9c7c5, #9d9995, #6a6662, #3a3836 | saturation 2–4 %; lightness 22–92 % |
| Cool gray | #eaebec, #c4c7ca, #94999e, #61666b, #35383b | saturation 5–5 %; lightness 22–92 % |
| Charcoal | #6b6b6b, #575757, #424242, #2e2e2e, #1a1a1a | saturation 0–0 %; lightness 10–42 % |
| Silver | #f5f5f5, #e6e6e6, #d1d1d1, #b8b8b8, #999999 | saturation 0–0 %; lightness 60–96 % |
| Slate gray | #c4c6ca, #9fa2a8, #797e86, #575b60, #35383b | saturation 5–5 %; lightness 22–78 % |
| Ash | #dcdcda, #bab8b5, #92908b, #6e6c68, #4a4845 | saturation 3–3 %; lightness 28–86 % |
| Dove gray | #f0eff0, #d6d5d7, #b3b0b5, #8a868d, #615e64 | saturation 2–3 %; lightness 38–94 % |
| Graphite | #7c8183, #636769, #4a4d4f, #313435, #1e1f20 | saturation 3–4 %; lightness 12–50 % |
| Mist | #f2f3f3, #dfe1e2, #cacdce, #afb5b6, #909798 | saturation 4–5 %; lightness 58–95 % |
The gray range used for every colour and every pixel: a saturation of 8 % or less (any hue) and a lightness of 5 % to 97 %.
Sizes
| Size | Pixels | Width ÷ height |
|---|---|---|
| Phone | 1170 × 2532 | 0.462 |
| Desktop | 1920 × 1080 | 1.778 |
| 4K | 3840 × 2160 | 1.778 |
| Video call background | 1920 × 1080 | 1.778 |
| Tablet | 2048 × 2732 | 0.750 |
| Square | 2048 × 2048 | 1.000 |
| Banner | 1500 × 500 | 3.000 |
Every size is drawn at its own pixels, not stretched.
What downloads
| Download | What is in it |
|---|---|
| PNG | The still picture at the full size you chose, every pixel exactly as drawn |
| JPG | The same picture as a smaller JPG (quality 92) |
| One Letter or A4 page with the picture fitted inside 10 mm margins |
| Paper | A 4K picture prints at | Sharpness |
|---|---|---|
| Letter (landscape) | 259.4 × 145.9 mm | 376 px per inch |
| A4 (landscape) | 277.0 × 155.8 mm | 352 px per inch |
To put a gray backdrop behind a photo of your own instead, use Change Image Background; to change the size of a picture afterwards, the Image Resizer.
Which tool to use
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| A gray-only background, studio backdrop or fog | Gray Background Generator (this page) |
| A brown-only background, chocolate squares or coffee rings | Brown Background Generator |
| A seamless concrete tile | Concrete Texture |
| A tinted neutral colour ramp with hex codes | Neutral Colors |
| A new background behind your own photo | Change Image Background |
For a brown wallpaper, try the Brown Background Generator; for a seamless concrete tile, the Concrete Texture maker; for a tinted neutral ramp with hex codes, Neutral Colors.
More free tools
More background tools?
Picture and colour tools that run privately in your browser, with no sign-up and no watermark.
Frequently asked questions
Is this a photo?
No. Every gradient, light falloff, mist band, check, line, vein, cloud, blob and dot is drawn by our own code from the seed: it is artwork, not a photograph.
How do you make sure it stays gray?
Every colour in every set is inside one stated range: a saturation of 8 % or less (any hue) and a lightness of 5 % to 97 %. The drawing only blends colours of the chosen set, and a blend is never more saturated than the colours it mixes; grain only darkens very slightly. Our tests check all 50 colours, and every pixel of every preset, against that range.
Gray or grey?
Both spellings name the same colour: gray is the usual spelling in the US and grey in the UK. Warm grays lean slightly towards yellow or red and cool grays towards blue, but every gray here keeps its saturation at 8 % or less, under every coloured background page we make (the lowest of those, green, starts at 15 %), so none of them reads as a colour.
What are the studio backdrop and fog banks?
Studio backdrop is a seamless paper sweep lit by one soft light: lightest at the light and darker with distance (Softness spreads the light), with a soft shadow along the line where the wall curves into the floor. The seed moves the light and that line. Fog banks are a pale sky over 2 to 12 mist bands with soft wavy tops, each band one flat gray and every nearer band darker; the number field sets how many bands and Angle shifts the waves.
Which grays are there?
Neutral gray, warm gray, cool gray, charcoal, silver, slate gray, ash, dove gray, graphite and mist. The table below gives the five colours of each set as hex codes.
Can I use it as a video-call background?
Yes. Choose Video call background (16:9, 1920 × 1080), download the PNG or JPG and pick it as a virtual background in your video-call app.
What does the seed do?
It fixes where the studio light, every mist band, cloud, blob and fibre goes, and where the checks and lines start. The same seed and size give exactly the same picture, pixel for pixel.
Is it free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit.
Is anything uploaded?
No. Every pixel is worked out by JavaScript in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere or saved when you close the page.