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How Does Color Contrast Checker Work?

Select a foreground and a background color by either entering hex codes or using the color selector tool. The “WCAG Compliance Information” chart will indicate if the chosen colors meet conformance standards.

Select Colors

WCAG Compliance Results

Color Contrast
9.80
Pass
Small text result passed
Small Text
Large text result passed
Large Text
UI components result passed
UI Components
ELEMENT TYPEAAAAA
Small Text Pass Pass
Large Text Pass Pass
UI Components Pass-

Disclaimer and Additional info

This contrast checker aims to measure contrast ratios with maximum accuracy. However, there may be instances where a color combination meets the calculated ratio but still fails overall. This can be due to other visual factors, such as hover or focus states and effects. For more information on color blindness, please visit our knowledge base.

Mandatory Contrast Ratios for WCAG Compliance

Level AA – Text

4.5:1 for regular text and 3:1 for large text (18 pt or 14 pt + bold).

WCAG Success Criterion 1.4.3

Level AA – Non-Text

3:1 for UI components & graphics.

WCAG Success Criterion 1.4.11

Level AAA – Text

7:1 for regular text and 4.5:1 for large text (18 pt or 14 pt + bold).

WCAG Success Criterion 1.4.6

Other Tools and Resources

Explore accessibility resources and tools to check accessibility compliance and remediate it.

Website Accessibility Checker

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Accessibility Statement Generator

Show the world that you’re dedicated to making your website accessible.

All in One Accessibility Knowledge Base

Ask our experts any accessibility question and browse through answered topics.

Color Contrast Checker FAQs

A color contrast checker is a tool used to assess the difference in luminance or color between text and its background on a digital interface. It ensures that text is easily readable against its background, especially for people with visual impairments.

Color contrast checker typically calculates the color difference between text and its background using algorithms that consider factors such as luminance contrast, color brightness, and hue difference. They then provide a rating or score indicating whether the contrast meets accessibility standards.

If your design fails the color contrast check, you should adjust the colors of the text and background to improve the contrast ratio. This might involve choosing darker or lighter colors, changing the text size, or modifying the background color to ensure readability and accessibility.

Utilize the color contrast checker provided above - simply enter the foreground and background colors of your website, and the tool will instantly compute the contrast level for you.

Color contrast is crucial for ensuring readability and accessibility. High contrast between text and background improves readability, especially for those with visual impairments like color blindness or low vision. It also helps meet accessibility standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

According to the WCAG guidelines, text should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background for normal text and 3:1 for large text (18pt or 14pt bold). This ensures readability for most users, including those with vision impairments.

While color contrast is particularly critical for text readability, it's also essential for other interface elements like buttons, images, icons, and form fields. Ensuring sufficient color contrast for these elements improves overall usability and accessibility for all users.

According to W3C WCAG standards for color blindness:

  • Color should not be the only medium to convey information or prompt responses.
  • There is a defined color contrast ratio for the visual presentation of text and images of text (4.5:1).

For more information, please visit this blog.