90s grunge color palettes are all about mood: heavy shadows, muted tones, rusty reds, washed-out blues, and dirty pastels that feel like worn band tees and photocopied flyers. They carry a sense of rebellion, nostalgia, and DIY imperfection, which makes them perfect for storytelling videos, retro edits, and branding that wants to feel raw instead of polished. These colors instantly set a vibe before a single word appears on screen.
For creators and Filmora users, 90s grunge color combinations are powerful tools for intros, YouTube thumbnails, vlogs, music videos, and social content. With the HEX codes below, you can build a consistent aesthetic color palette for your vlog, 90s grunge themed video, or retro grunge thumbnails, then translate that look into filters, text, overlays, and channel branding.
In this article
Moody 90s Grunge Color Palettes
Rainy Alley Mixtape
- HEX Codes: #11151a, #27323b, #4c5b55, #7d6778, #dfd3c8
- Mood: Brooding, nostalgic, and slightly cinematic, like a late-night walk after a gig.
- Use for: Great for melancholic vlog sequences, lo-fi music video overlays, and gritty documentary titles.
This palette feels like damp pavement under streetlights. The deep inky blues and muted greens form a shadowy base, while the dusty mauve and off-white bring in a soft, reflective highlight. Together, they capture the quiet, in-between moments of a night out: waiting for the bus in the rain, staring at neon reflections in puddles, or walking home with headphones on.
Use Rainy Alley Mixtape for emotional story beats, soft grunge YouTube intros, or reflective B-roll in your vlogs. In thumbnails and channel banners, the darker tones can frame your subject, while the lighter beige and mauve make text and logos stand out without breaking the moody vibe. It is ideal if you want your branding to feel cinematic and introspective instead of bright and bubbly.
Pro Tip: Build a Cinematic 90s Grunge Look in Filmora
To keep a palette like Rainy Alley Mixtape consistent across an entire edit, treat it like your visual soundtrack in Filmora. Use the darkest tones (#11151a, #27323b) as a reference when adjusting exposure and contrast, so your shadows always sit in that inky, rainy-night range. Then echo the soft beige (#dfd3c8) in titles, lower-thirds, and overlays to create a unified look from intro to end screen.
You can also add a subtle vignette and grain in Filmora to push the grunge feeling even further. Apply the same color adjustments and effects to your A-roll, B-roll, and social cutdowns so your audience instantly recognizes your 90s grunge aesthetic wherever they see your content.
AI Color Palette
If you already have a screenshot, mood board, or still frame using this palette, you can turn it into a full edit style with Filmora's AI Color Palette feature. Import your reference image, let Filmora analyze its tones, then match that look to the rest of your clips in just a few clicks.
This is especially helpful for 90s grunge visuals, where small shifts in blues, greens, and beiges can completely change the mood. By basing your entire timeline on one Rainy Alley Mixtape reference frame, you keep intros, B-roll, cutaways, and outros visually locked to the same moody palette.
HSL, Color Wheels & Curves
Once the base palette is in place, use Filmora's HSL, color wheels, and curves to fine-tune your 90s grunge tones. Pull the blues slightly toward teal or steel-blue to match the exact look of your rainy city scenes, and desaturate greens so they feel more like worn concrete than bright foliage. On the color wheels, warm up midtones just a touch to bring skin tones into the same world as your moody background.
If you need a deeper guide to color grading, Filmora's tutorials on color correction and grading in Filmora show how to use curves to crush blacks, lift highlights, and create a subtle S-curve for cinematic contrast. That combination gives your footage a soft, film-like roll-off that suits 90s grunge aesthetics perfectly.
1000+ Video Filters & 3D LUTs
If you want to get to a grunge look faster, Filmora's video filters and 3D LUTs make it easy to push your footage toward moody 90s tones. Start with a filmic or vintage LUT to introduce soft contrast and subtle color shifts, then tweak HSL so the final result still matches the Rainy Alley Mixtape HEX codes.
You can also layer grunge-friendly filters like noise, vignette, blur, and light leaks to make your edit feel like it was captured on old tape. Save your favorite combination as a preset so every future vlog, music video, or documentary in this style keeps the same recognizable 90s grunge identity.
Basement Show Haze
- HEX Codes: #151016, #30243a, #544057, #8f7b6e, #d1c0aa
- Mood: Smoky, intimate, and underground, like a cramped club packed with distortion.
- Use for: Perfect for indie band visuals, behind-the-scenes clips, and poster-style YouTube thumbnails.
Basement Show Haze is heavy on purples and muted browns, echoing stage lights cutting through cigarette smoke. The near-black plum and deep violet create a low-key backdrop, while the dusty beige softens everything, as if seen through old glass or a slightly fogged lens.
Use this palette for indie music sessions, rehearsal footage, and raw gig recaps. In thumbnails and title cards, let the dark tones frame your subject, then use the lighter beige for text so it stays readable even on mobile. It is a strong choice for branding a music channel that wants to feel underground and authentic rather than polished pop.
Flannel Shadows
- HEX Codes: #1a1414, #3d2224, #6b3b3f, #8b6a5c, #d7c2a8
- Mood: Warm yet worn-in, with the comfort of an old flannel and dim bedroom lights.
- Use for: Use for mood boards, lyric videos, and narrative shorts that need a raw, personal tone.
Flannel Shadows leans into rusty reds, tobacco browns, and cozy warm neutrals. It feels like old posters on textured walls, sun-faded flannel shirts, and late-night journaling under a desk lamp. The deep burgundy and brown anchor the look, while the creamy beige adds a hint of softness.
This palette works well for personal vlogs, lyric videos with handwritten fonts, and storytime content that needs an intimate, lived-in aesthetic. In Filmora, you can echo these tones in your lower-thirds, background shapes, and overlays so your whole channel identity feels like the same warm, grungy bedroom set.
Static Filled Night
- HEX Codes: #050608, #222633, #494d5f, #7a7f8a, #c4c6cf
- Mood: Cold, distant, and glitchy, like late-night TV static and tape noise.
- Use for: Ideal for cyber-grunge edits, analog glitch effects, and dark techy intro screens.
Static Filled Night is built on cool charcoals and blue-greys, with a washed-out highlight that feels like TV static. It captures the sense of staying up too late with nothing but a flickering screen and distant city noise in the background.
Use it for glitch transitions, eerie tech vlogs, or retro-futuristic edits. In intros and end screens, combine the darkest shade as a background with the lightest grey for typography to keep your text legible while maintaining a cold, digital grunge tone. It is perfect for channels blending nostalgia, tech, and a slightly haunted mood.
Neon 90s Grunge Color Palettes
CRT Glitch Neon
- HEX Codes: #05040a, #181824, #3b7b8e, #f25f9c, #f2f2f2
- Mood: Electric and jittery, combining analog darkness with vapor-bright neon pops.
- Use for: Great for glitch transitions, channel branding, and bold thumbnail text that needs to stand out.
CRT Glitch Neon mixes deep midnight blues with sharp teal and hot pink accents, like broken CRT screens and RGB burn-in. The almost-black tones keep everything grounded and grungy, while the neon colors slice through with energy.
Use this palette when you want your text, subscribe buttons, and callouts to hit hard against a dark background. It is ideal for gaming channels, tech reviews, and cyber-grunge edits where titles and lower-thirds need to be loud but still on-brand with a gritty aesthetic.
Arcade Basement Glow
- HEX Codes: #090812, #2d163b, #ff3f6c, #ffb347, #39ffe1
- Mood: Chaotic, playful, and saturated like an underground arcade buzzing past midnight.
- Use for: Use for gaming intros, fast-cut montages, and title cards that need an energetic 90s kick.
Arcade Basement Glow throws neon pink, orange, and aqua against deep plum and midnight purples. It is noisy, over-saturated, and full of motion, just like old arcades and LAN parties lit only by screens and cabinet lights.
This is a go-to palette for high-energy edits: gaming highlights, speedruns, dance cuts, or hype montages. Use the dark purple as your base canvas and let the neon accents highlight scores, text, and key moments. On thumbnails, place your subject in the darker areas and outline or accent them with the brightest neon for maximum clickability.
Sticker Bomb Chaos
- HEX Codes: #161616, #ff3366, #33ff99, #ffe74c, #4b4bff
- Mood: Rebellious and loud, like a skateboard deck fully covered in stickers.
- Use for: Perfect for channel art, punk-inspired vlogs, and dynamic lower-thirds that demand attention.
Sticker Bomb Chaos uses a nearly black base as a wall for bright, clashing neons: hot pink, acid green, sunny yellow, and electric blue. It feels young, messy, and unapologetic, like a collage of logos and band stickers layered over years.
Try this palette for skate edits, punk vlogs, or any content with fast cuts and bold typography. Set your backgrounds and borders in the dark grey, then rotate between the neon shades for titles, social handles, and motion graphics. It is also a strong choice for YouTube banners and profile imagery where you want instant, in-your-face recognition.
Late Night Rave Line
- HEX Codes: #050707, #1b2a3a, #ff2e63, #08d9d6, #eaeaea
- Mood: Hypnotic and high-contrast, with club lights slicing through the darkness.
- Use for: Use for EDM edits, teaser trailers, and looping title screens with bold motion graphics.
Late Night Rave Line pairs inky blacks and navy blues with searing pink and aqua neon, all anchored by a soft off-white. It captures the feeling of club lights cutting through a crowded room, or a rave flyer printed for one unforgettable night.
Use it for music visualizers, teaser trailers, and animated intro loops. The dark shades make a perfect background for kinetic typography, while the pink, aqua, and off-white give you a flexible set of accent colors for buttons, logos, and end screen elements. It is especially effective when combined with strobe-like cuts and beat-synced transitions in Filmora.
Muted Vintage 90s Grunge Color Palettes
Faded Band Tee
- HEX Codes: #1c2326, #394954, #6e7f8d, #a79d8d, #e1d8c7
- Mood: Soft, worn, and sentimental, like a band tee that survived a decade of shows.
- Use for: Great for nostalgic travel vlogs, coming-of-age shorts, and subtle title treatments.
Faded Band Tee is all about desaturated blues, cool greys, and warm beige. It looks like your favorite shirt after countless washes, with colors softened and blended by time. Nothing here screams for attention; it just quietly supports emotional storytelling.
This palette is perfect when you want a grunge attitude without harsh contrast or neon. Use it for reflective travel vlogs, documentary-style edits, or narrative shorts about memory and growth. In titles and overlays, lean on the lighter beige and cream for readability while using the blues and greys to tint your footage and background elements.
Old Zine Pages
- HEX Codes: #111518, #333840, #5d5b63, #b39b7b, #f0e4cf
- Mood: DIY and artsy, like photocopied zines and stapled flyers on a wall.
- Use for: Ideal for documentary openers, editorial style reels, and textured typography overlays.
Old Zine Pages mixes inky charcoals and copy-machine greys with tea-stained beige. It feels like piles of zines, stapled flyers, and photocopies layered over each other. The neutral tones are friendly to both black and white text, making it a versatile base for editorial visuals.
Use it for social explainers, mini-docs, and collage-style edits that lean into a lo-fi print aesthetic. In Filmora, combine this palette with paper textures, ripped-edge overlays, and typewriter or bold sans-serif fonts to fully sell the DIY zine mood in your thumbnails, titles, and motion graphics.
Dusty Record Store
- HEX Codes: #201819, #483333, #7a5a3c, #a28f6b, #e4d6b8
- Mood: Warm, analog, and nostalgic, like digging through crates of old vinyl.
- Use for: Use for music documentaries, vinyl haul videos, and chill study mixes with a retro twist.
Dusty Record Store brings together deep maroons, caramel browns, and muted tans, echoing wooden bins, cracked leather jackets, and aged album sleeves. It has a gentle warmth that instantly suggests analog sound and slow afternoons.
Use this palette for vinyl haul videos, record store tours, lo-fi study mixes, or any music content that wants to feel timeless. In your branding, apply the darker shades to backgrounds and the lighter tans to text and UI elements, so your overlays feel like they belong in a cozy, retro listening room.
Warm Urban 90s Grunge Color Palettes
Brick Wall Graffiti
- HEX Codes: #1a0f10, #4a1f21, #993333, #f26b38, #f2d0a7
- Mood: Urban, raw, and expressive, like fresh tags on an old brick alley.
- Use for: Perfect for street-style fashion content, skate edits, and bold opener sequences.
Brick Wall Graffiti balances dark wine reds and burnt oranges with a soft brick beige. It feels like a city backstreet, where old bricks and fresh paint clash in a gritty but warm way. The palette has plenty of contrast without relying on neon or pure black.
Use it for streetwear lookbooks, skate edits, and lifestyle vlogs with an urban edge. In thumbnails and titles, let the darker reds support your background while the orange and beige highlight typography and key objects. It is a strong palette if your brand leans more toward asphalt and brick than nightlife and screens.
Gas Station Dusk
- HEX Codes: #0b1020, #253148, #f25c54, #ffb86f, #ffeaa7
- Mood: Cinematic and lonely, like an empty roadside station glowing at dusk.
- Use for: Great for narrative short films, road trip vlogs, and cinematic thumbnails.
Gas Station Dusk mixes indigo shadows with coral reds and warm amber highlights, topped with pale cream. It feels like a limbo space on a road trip: not fully night, not fully day, with neon signs humming in the distance.
This palette is perfect for storytelling-heavy edits and cinematic thumbnails. Use the deep blues as your base grade, then let the coral and amber tones highlight skin, lights, and signage. In Filmora, you can add subtle bloom or glow on brighter areas to really sell the gas station-at-dusk mood in both your videos and your channel artwork.
Suburban Garage Jam
- HEX Codes: #151516, #31363f, #5b606d, #a5563c, #e0c7a1
- Mood: Casual and creative, like weekend jam sessions in a cluttered garage.
- Use for: Use for band practice recaps, DIY project videos, and casual lifestyle vlogs.
Suburban Garage Jam sets cool greys and charcoal tones against a warm brick orange and creamy beige. The result is low-key but still distinctly 90s, evoking garage doors, amps, extension cords, and scuffed sneakers.
Use this palette for band practice clips, DIY builds, and laid-back lifestyle vlogs that still have a hint of rebellion. In your visual branding, use the greys as your neutral workspace and reserve the orange and beige for titles, buttons, and highlights. This keeps the overall feel relaxed but visually cohesive across your uploads.
Smoky Coffeehouse Set
- HEX Codes: #1b1515, #3f2a2a, #705047, #a67655, #e3c6a8
- Mood: Intimate and moody, like an unplugged set in a dim coffeehouse.
- Use for: Ideal for acoustic sessions, podcast visuals, and sit-down storytime videos.
Smoky Coffeehouse Set blends dark browns, soft sepias, and latte tans into a gentle haze. It captures candlelight, wooden tables, and late-night conversations over coffee. The palette is warm without being orange-heavy, making it flattering on skin tones.
Use it for acoustic music sessions, podcasts, interviews, and storytime videos where the focus is on voice and presence. In your titles and lower-thirds, the lighter beige offers great readability over the darker brown backgrounds. It is also a great base for cover art and thumbnail designs that want to feel cozy yet slightly mysterious.
Tips for Creating 90s Grunge Color Palettes
When you design your own 90s grunge color palette for video and branding, think about how mood, readability, and consistency will translate from footage to thumbnails, intros, and social snippets.
- Start with a dark anchor color that can serve as your background or shadow tone, then build 3 to 4 supporting colors around it.
- Keep saturation slightly muted for a true grunge feel, and save bright neon accents for small details like icons, buttons, or key words.
- Always test text contrast: place your planned title color over your darkest and lightest palette shades to make sure it stays readable on mobile.
- Use one warm and one cool color in the same palette to give yourself flexibility for skin tones, skies, and environmental elements in your footage.
- Match your color palette to your story: colder blues and greys for distant, lonely edits; warm browns, reds, and beiges for intimate or nostalgic content.
- In Filmora, save your favorite color combinations as presets and reuse them on titles, shapes, and overlays so every video strengthens your brand identity.
- Balance grit with clarity: add grain, noise, and vignettes for texture, but keep key UI elements like subscribe buttons, captions, and CTAs clean and legible.
- Check your thumbnails at small sizes to confirm that your 90s grunge palette still reads clearly and does not blend your subject into the background.
90s grunge color palettes can completely reshape how your videos feel, from brooding city walks and basement shows to neon-drenched raves and dusty record stores. With the HEX codes above, you can bring that aesthetic into every part of your workflow: color grading, titles, overlays, channel banners, and social snippets.
Inside Filmora, it is easy to turn these palettes into a repeatable visual style using AI Color Palette, HSL and curves, and ready-made filters and LUTs. Once you lock in the look that fits your voice, you can apply it across intros, vlogs, music videos, and shorts so your audience recognizes your brand at a glance.
Experiment with a few of these 90s grunge color combinations, tweak them to match your footage, and save your favorites as go-to presets. Over time, your channel will develop a consistent, nostalgic edge that feels uniquely yours.
Next: Light Blue Color Palette

