[GH-ISSUE #605] Most Lipis flags have the wrong colors #341

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opened 2026-03-03 14:37:41 +03:00 by kerem · 2 comments

kerem commented

2026-03-03 14:37:41 +03:00

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Originally created by @Danny-Engelman on GitHub (Sep 21, 2019).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/lipis/flag-icons/issues/605

Earlier this year I corrected some flags in this repo

Soon discovered nearly all flags have bloated SVG because of weird transforms 'pushing' the flags into a 640x480 viewBox

Comparing other SVG Repos I learned a lot of Lipis flags use the wrong colors, overall Lipis flags are too bright

Switched tactics, instead of correcting SVG, I re-created all flags with a 23 KB (gzip) Custom Element

Example where Lipis flags have wrong colors:

Lipis flag triangle is wrong also:

Repo Flags can be compared at:

https://flagmeister.github.io/documentation.html?flag=za

Originally created by @Danny-Engelman on GitHub (Sep 21, 2019). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/lipis/flag-icons/issues/605 Earlier this year I corrected some flags in this repo Soon discovered nearly all flags have bloated SVG because of weird ``transforms`` 'pushing' the flags into a 640x480 viewBox Comparing other SVG Repos I learned a lot of Lipis flags use the wrong colors, overall Lipis flags are too bright Switched tactics, instead of correcting SVG, I re-created all flags with a 23 KB (gzip) [Custom Element](https://flagmeister.github.io) Example where Lipis flags have wrong colors: ![](https://i.imgur.com/MB2yO3e.jpg) Lipis flag triangle is wrong also: ![](https://i.imgur.com/VEl5IKp.jpg) Repo Flags can be compared at: https://flagmeister.github.io/documentation.html?flag=za

kerem closed this issue

2026-03-03 14:37:41 +03:00

kerem commented

2026-03-03 14:37:42 +03:00

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@Findus23 commented on GitHub (Sep 21, 2019):

Hi,
You tool is really fun to compare!

There have been a lot of discussions here and I think it boils down to the issues that on one hand many countries don't specify a precise color and the other mostly specify a pantone color which is a colorspace for physical objects. And I think it isn't possible to uniquely map the color of objects into a tuple of red, green and blue light brightnesses.

The flag I can tell most about is the Austrian flag which should be a very simple case (red-white-red). But then the Wikipedia explains (quoting a proper document by the Austrian military) that formerly the red used to be Pantone 032 C and since last year is now Pantone 186 C (which is a lot darker and doesn't really look like the flag to me).

Now if we want to believe the RGB mappings on the pantone website (and honestly I don't think one can as the exact color depends on so many things like display settings) then this would be #EF3340 and #C8102E.
But none of the flags in your nice comparison have either of these two. And this is just the look at what should be one of the easiest cases.

So I think getting pedantic over flag colors is a fun thing to do, but getting a precise "correct" result is probably pretty close to impossible.

But that doesn't mean that cases where the colors are visibly far off shouldn't be corrected.

@Findus23 commented on GitHub (Sep 21, 2019): Hi, You tool is really fun to compare! There have been a lot of discussions here and I think it boils down to the issues that on one hand many countries don't specify a precise color and the other mostly specify a pantone color which is a colorspace for physical objects. And I think it isn't possible to uniquely map the color of objects into a tuple of red, green and blue light brightnesses. The flag I can tell most about is the Austrian flag which should be a very simple case (red-white-red). But then the Wikipedia explains (quoting a proper document by the Austrian military) that formerly the red used to be [Pantone 032 C](https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/Red-032-C) and since last year is now [Pantone 186 C](https://www.pantone.com/color-finder/186-C) (which is a lot darker and doesn't really look like the flag to me). Now if we want to believe the RGB mappings on the pantone website (and honestly I don't think one can as the exact color depends on so many things like display settings) then this would be #EF3340 and #C8102E. But none of the flags in your nice comparison have either of these two. And this is just the look at what should be one of the easiest cases. So I think getting pedantic over flag colors is a fun thing to do, but getting a precise "correct" result is probably pretty close to impossible. But that doesn't mean that cases where the colors are visibly far off shouldn't be corrected.

kerem commented

2026-03-03 14:37:42 +03:00

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@Danny-Engelman commented on GitHub (Sep 21, 2019):

Yes, I did get a bit pedantic over flags
First SVG size, then colors, then JS size

After long comparison of several sources I chose the SchemeColor site to be "my" truth,

https://www.schemecolor.com/austria-flag-colors.php = #ED2939 for Austria red

So we now have 4 colors for Austria-red, this Repo goes for #DF0000

Given the other flags I say #DF0000 is clearly wrong.
My guess is some kind of export brightness-color-filter was used for many flags

https://flagmeister.github.io/documentation.html?flag=at

Fun thing with my Custom Element, you can easily draw your own truth:

  <img is=flag-at draw="stripes:#C8102E|white|#C8102E"  clip="heart"  filter="light">

@Danny-Engelman commented on GitHub (Sep 21, 2019): Yes, I did get a bit pedantic over flags First SVG size, then colors, then JS size After long comparison of several sources I chose the SchemeColor site to be "my" truth, https://www.schemecolor.com/austria-flag-colors.php = #ED2939 for Austria red So we now have 4 colors for Austria-red, this Repo goes for #DF0000 ![](https://i.imgur.com/EWw9v0p.jpg) Given the other flags I say #DF0000 is clearly wrong. My guess is some kind of export brightness-color-filter was used for many flags https://flagmeister.github.io/documentation.html?flag=at ![](https://i.imgur.com/nEjcm5u.jpg) Fun thing with my Custom Element, you can easily draw your own truth: ```` <img is=flag-at draw="stripes:#C8102E|white|#C8102E" clip="heart" filter="light"> ```` ![](https://i.imgur.com/ct8vPti.jpg)