---
title: "Flag of France: colours and meaning"
description: "What every colour and symbol on the France flag stands for, its official 2:3 ratio, and the year the current design was adopted. Plus the flags it gets mistaken for."
url: https://atoneplace.net/flag/france/
site: "At One Place"
---

# The flag of France

**The flag of France: Three equal vertical bands of blue at the hoist, white, and red.**

Ratio 2:3 · current design adopted 1794

*[Flag drawn on the page: France]*

The tricolour is the ancestor of most three-band flags in the world, and its own symbolism is a political compromise: the white of the Bourbon monarchy set between the red and blue of the city of Paris. In 1976 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing lightened the blue to match the European flag, largely so the two looked right side by side on television. In 2020 Emmanuel Macron quietly reverted public buildings to the older navy blue of 1794, and for several years both shades were flying in Paris at once. The bands are equal today, but under Napoleon they were not — the hoist band was made wider to counteract the way a flag furls.

## Flags it gets confused with

*[Flag drawn on the page: France, Netherlands, Russia]*

*Drawn at each flag’s own official ratio, which is itself the difference in some of these pairs.*

| Flag | How to tell them apart |
| --- | --- |
| Netherlands | The Netherlands uses the same three colours in horizontal bands, not vertical ones. |
| Russia | Russia is horizontal and puts white on top, then blue, then red. |

## What the colours mean

*Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.*

- **Blue** (#000091) — A colour of Paris, with red
- **White** (#FFFFFF) — The colour of the monarchy, placed between the two
- **Red** (#E1000F) — The second colour of Paris

- **Ratio:** 2:3
- **Current design adopted:** 1794
- **Colours:** blue, white, red

## Common questions

### What does the flag of France look like?

Three equal vertical bands of blue at the hoist, white, and red.

### What do the colours of the France flag mean?

Blue: a colour of Paris, with red. White: the colour of the monarchy, placed between the two. Red: the second colour of Paris.

### How do you tell the France flag from the Netherlands one?

The Netherlands uses the same three colours in horizontal bands, not vertical ones.

### When was the France flag adopted?

The current design dates from 1794, and its official ratio is 2:3.

## Related pages

- [France](https://atoneplace.net/country/france/)
- [The flag of Netherlands](https://atoneplace.net/flag/netherlands/)
- [The flag of Russia](https://atoneplace.net/flag/russia/)
- [Every flag with blue in it](https://atoneplace.net/flag/colour/blue/)
- [The flag of United States](https://atoneplace.net/flag/united-states/)
- [The flag of India](https://atoneplace.net/flag/india/)
- [The flag of United Kingdom](https://atoneplace.net/flag/united-kingdom/)
- [The flag of Brazil](https://atoneplace.net/flag/brazil/)
- [The flag of Australia](https://atoneplace.net/flag/australia/)
- [The flag of South Korea](https://atoneplace.net/flag/south-korea/)
- [The flag of Ukraine](https://atoneplace.net/flag/ukraine/)
- [The flag of Nepal](https://atoneplace.net/flag/nepal/)

## Sources

- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place (/about/)