This table matching ORACAL 641 films to RAL and PANTONE colours has been on the site since 2016 and has stayed the most visited page of the section ever since. Here it is again, put in order: with colour swatches, codes from all three systems, and an explanation of why such a match can only ever be approximate.
Three systems people confuse
RAL, PANTONE and ORACAL are not three names for the same thing but three independent catalogues built for different materials. No common standard ties them together exactly: there are only nearest matches, picked by eye and by instrument.
RAL appeared in Germany in 1927 as a single list of colours for industry. The classic RAL Classic palette uses four-digit numbers where the first digit marks the group: 1000s are yellows, 2000s oranges, 3000s reds, 5000s blues, 6000s greens, 7000s greys, 9000s whites and blacks. Today it is the de facto standard for powder coating, facade systems, windows and steel structures.
PANTONE is a system of spot inks for printing, introduced in 1963. Its number (185 C, 286 U) names one ready-made ink rather than a mix of four process colours. The suffix refers to the paper: C for coated, U for uncoated. A brand colour is usually recorded in PANTONE precisely because it reproduces the same way in any print shop.
ORACAL is the catalogue of self-adhesive films by the German company Orafol. Here the number names not a colour in general but a specific film from a specific series: 641 is the economical matt series for indoor and outdoor advertising, 651 the glossy one with a longer service life, 751 the cast film for complex surfaces. The same colour number in different series gives a close but not identical shade.
ORACAL 641 — RAL — PANTONE matching table
The 641 series is the workhorse of outdoor advertising: an 80 µm matt film with a service life of about four years. The table lists 60 colours of the series with the nearest equivalents in the other two systems. The swatch on the left conveys the colour loosely — it is shown on a glowing screen, while film reflects light.
| Swatch | Name | ORACAL 641 | RAL | PANTONE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Transparent | 000 | – | — |
| White | 010 | 9003 | — | |
| Golden Yellow | 020 | 1033 | 1235 | |
| Signal Yellow | 019 | 1003 | 125 | |
| Yellow | 021 | 1023 | 116 | |
| Light Yellow | 022 | 1021 | 115 | |
| Brimstone Yellow | 025 | 1016 | 107 | |
| Purple Red | 026 | – | 505 | |
| Burgundy | 312 | – | 195 | |
| Dark Red | 030 | 3003 | 1807 | |
| Red | 031 | 3000 | 200 | |
| Light Red | 032 | 3020 | 1795 | |
| Orange Red | 047 | – | 179 | |
| Orange | 034 | 2004 | 7417 | |
| Light Orange | 036 | 2008 | 164 | |
| Pastel Orange | 035 | 2003 | 1585 | |
| Purple | 404 | – | 7447 | |
| Violet | 040 | – | 520 | |
| Lavender | 043 | 4005 | 2655 | |
| Lilac | 042 | – | 257 | |
| Pink | 041 | 9010 | 219 | |
| Soft Pink | 045 | – | 211 | |
| Deep Sea Blue | 562 | – | 533 | |
| Steel Blue | 518 | – | 289 | |
| Dark Blue | 050 | 5013 | 281 | |
| Cobalt Blue | 065 | 5013 | 2756 | |
| King Blue | 049 | 5002 | 280 | |
| Brilliant Blue | 086 | – | 2736 | |
| Blue | 067 | – | 647 | |
| Traffic Blue | 057 | 5017 | 2945 | |
| Gentian Blue | 051 | – | 301 | |
| Gentian | 098 | – | – | |
| Azure Blue | 052 | 5015 | 300 | |
| Sky Blue | 084 | – | 7461 | |
| Light Blue | 053 | – | 2995 | |
| Ice Blue | 056 | – | 2915 | |
| Turquoise Blue | 066 | – | 321 | |
| Turquoise | 054 | – | 326 | |
| Mint | 055 | – | 338 | |
| Dark Green | 060 | 6005 | 3435 | |
| Forest Green | 613 | – | 3425 | |
| Green | 061 | 6029 | 341 | |
| Grass Green | 068 | – | 348 | |
| Light Green | 062 | – | 355 | |
| Yellow Green | 064 | 6018 | 361 | |
| Lime-Tree Green | 063 | – | 368 | |
| Black | 070 | 9005 | 426 | |
| Dark Grey | 073 | 7043 | 425 | |
| Grey | 071 | 7005 | cool gray 9 | |
| Telegray | 076 | 7045 | cool gray 8 | |
| Middle Grey | 074 | 7042 | 422 | |
| Light Grey | 072 | 7035 | 428 | |
| Brown | 080 | 8017 | 7533 | |
| Nut Brown | 083 | 8023 | 1605 | |
| Light Brown | 081 | 1011 | 729 | |
| Beige | 082 | – | 7501 | |
| Cream | 023 | – | 7402 | |
| Silver Grey (metallic) | 090 | 9006 | – | |
| Gold (metallic) | 091 | – | – | |
| Copper (metallic) | 092 | – | – |
Why an exact match never happens
The main reason is physics, not the quality of the catalogues. A screen emits light and mixes colour in RGB. Printing lays ink on paper and works in CMYK, subtracting colour from white. Film is pigmented through its mass. Paint on metal adds a texture of its own. These are four different ways of producing what the eye will call “the same red”.
Lighting adds to the physics. A colour judged in daylight drifts yellow under a warm incandescent lamp and blue under a cold LED. The effect where two samples match under one light and part under another is called metamerism, and it is the usual cause of an argument with a client on site.
The third factor is the surface. Matt film scatters light and looks lighter and softer; a glossy film of the same number looks deeper and darker. That is why “RAL 5015 = ORACAL 084” holds only with the word “approximately” attached — and on a large order that is worth writing into the contract.
How to pick a colour and not get it wrong
- Start from the medium that carries most of the colour. If the bulk of the area is painted facade, take RAL as the base and match the film to it. If the base is a printed catalogue, start from PANTONE.
- Check against a fan deck, not a screen. A physical RAL K7 fan or a Pantone book is worth the money: no monitor shows a colour the way it will land on the material.
- View samples under the light the product will live in. A sign — outdoors and at dusk with its illumination on; an indoor plate — under the lamps of that room.
- Order a test coat or a sample cut. For powder coating, a coat on the same metal; for film, a piece from the same batch. Batches differ, and on a long sign the joint between two rolls can show.
- Record the code in documents, not the name. “Blue” is not a colour; “RAL 5015, ORACAL 641-084” is.
- For brand identity, write down the whole chain. A brand book should carry PANTONE for print, CMYK for publishing, RGB and HEX for screens, RAL and ORACAL for outdoor work. Then the contractor has nothing left to guess.
The short version
RAL is for paint, PANTONE for print, ORACAL for film. The table above translates between them with “nearest shade” accuracy, and that is enough to draw up a quote, order a sample and approve the artwork. What it does not replace is a physical sample in daylight: the final word always belongs to it.
If you are ordering a sign, a vehicle wrap or a brand identity and want the colour to hold across every medium, write to us — we will pick the codes and fix them before the work starts.
