Color contrast ratios

The color contrast between background and foreground content — usually text — must be great enough to ensure legibility. WCAG recommends minimum contrast ratios by content type: body text needs 4.5:1 for an AA rating and 7:1 for AAA; large-scale text (120-150% larger than body text) needs 3:1 for AA and 4.5:1 for AAA; active user interface components and graphical objects such as icons and graphs need 3:1 for AA, with no AAA ratio defined. These ratios do not apply to incidental text such as inactive controls, logotypes, or purely decorative text. Good contrast benefits every user, but it particularly helps people with color blindness and similar conditions who experience low contrast and have trouble differentiating similar colors, because they do not see bright and dark areas as readily and therefore struggle to see edges, borders, and other details. Scope: Web accessibility. Reviewed October 4, 2026.