A contrast ratio color picker system is described that generates, based on a selected color, a contrast ratio color picker that presents a filtered palette of colors satisfying a contrast ratio threshold, relative to the selected color. To do so, the contrast ratio color picker system computes a relative luminance value for the selected color and identifies a contrast ratio threshold for the digital content. The contrast ratio color picker system then selects a palette from a target color space and generates a filtered palette by masking pixels displaying colors of the target color space palette that fail to satisfy the contrast ratio threshold. The filtered palette is then output as part of the contrast ratio color picker, which enables application of colors selected from the filtered palette to digital content.