JFrame color - How to set the JFrame background color

By Alvin Alexander. Last updated: June 4, 2016

JFrame color FAQ: How do I set the JFrame background color?

In general, to set the JFrame background color, just call the JFrame setBackground method, like this:

jframe.setBackground(Color.RED);

Note that there are many more things you can do with the Java Color class, including:

Specifying RGB values.
Using methods like lighter, darker, or brighter.

There are also other Color class methods to get color components, and much more.

A complete JFrame background color example

Getting back to the JFrame color example ... if you want to test this on your own computer, here's the source code for a complete JFrame background color example:

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class JFrameBackgroundColor
{

  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    // schedule this for the event dispatch thread (edt)
    SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
    {
      public void run()
      {
        displayJFrame();
      }
    });
  }

  static void displayJFrame()
  {
    // create our jframe as usual
    JFrame jframe = new JFrame("JFrame Background Color");
    jframe.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

    jframe.setBackground(Color.red);

    // set the jframe size and location, and make it visible
    jframe.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 300));
    jframe.pack();
    jframe.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    jframe.setVisible(true);
  }

}