# Choosing Colormaps in Matplotlib

Canonical URL: https://colorcurio.us/library/mpl-color-guide
Source type: Library entry
Resource URL: https://matplotlib.org/stable/tutorials/colors/colormaps.html
Added: 2026-01-04

## Summary

Matplotlib’s guide to choosing a built-in colormap, with a lightness plot for every map.

Covers sequential, diverging, cyclic, and qualitative classes, and shows why jet and other rainbows make poor defaults.

- Resource: [Choosing Colormaps in Matplotlib](https://matplotlib.org/stable/tutorials/colors/colormaps.html)
- By: Matplotlib
- Kind: colormaps (article)
- Level: intermediate
- Tags: color-scales, data-viz, perception, cam16, scientist, tutorial, python

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