The use of a natural food colorant is recently of interest from the health benefit viewpoint. Gac aril has been reported to be a potential raw material for production of food colorant since it contains significant amounts of β-carotene and lycopene that are responsible for a yellow red color. However, drying which is an important step for a food colorant production may cause losses of those compounds in Gac aril. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of hot air drying temperature (60-80°C) on the evolutions and retention of β-carotene and lycopene in Gac aril. Color of the dried Gac aril was also determined. The results illustrated that both β-carotene and lycopene significantly degraded during drying. Higher drying temperature made higher degradation rate of β-carotene and lycopene. However, the drying temperature did not significantly affect the color of dried samples. Hot air drying at 60°C of Gac aril was recommended for producing natural food colorant by providing the highest retention of β-carotene and lycopene.