# Color Contrast Checker Check color contrast ratio and WCAG compliance for accessibility > Canonical page: https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/color-contrast-checker - **Category:** Design - **Keywords:** color, contrast, accessibility, wcag, a11y, checker, validator, design, ui ## Overview The Color Contrast Checker is a professional utility designed to evaluate the readability of your color combinations against WCAG accessibility standards. By calculating the contrast ratio between foreground and background colors, this tool ensures your digital content remains legible for all users, including those with visual impairments. ## Inputs - **Foreground Color** (color): #000000 - **Background Color** (color): #FFFFFF ## When to use - During the UI/UX design phase to ensure text readability on buttons, headers, and body content. - When auditing existing websites or applications for WCAG compliance and accessibility improvements. - Before finalizing brand color palettes to verify that primary and secondary colors meet minimum contrast requirements. ## How it works - Select your foreground color using the color picker or by entering a specific hex code. - Select your background color to define the surface the text or element sits upon. - The tool instantly calculates the contrast ratio and displays whether your selection passes or fails WCAG AA and AAA standards. ## Use cases - Validating web accessibility for government or educational portals. - Ensuring call-to-action buttons stand out effectively against brand backgrounds. - Refining typography styles to maintain readability across different screen brightness levels. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the minimum contrast ratio required by WCAG? For WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, the minimum contrast ratio is 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. ### What is the difference between AA and AAA standards? AA is the standard level of accessibility, while AAA is the highest level, requiring a higher contrast ratio of 7:1 for normal text. ### Does this tool support transparency or alpha channels? This tool evaluates solid hex colors. For accurate results, ensure you are testing the final rendered color against a solid background. ### Why is color contrast important for accessibility? High contrast ensures that users with low vision or color blindness can distinguish text from the background, preventing eye strain and improving usability. ### Can I use this for mobile app design? Yes, the contrast ratios calculated are universal and apply to mobile apps, web interfaces, and digital documents alike. ## Related tools - [Accessible Color Palette Contrast Checker](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/accessible-color-palette-contrast-checker): Audit every color pair in a palette against WCAG 2.1 AA and AAA contrast thresholds and suggest adjustments - [Color Accessibility Checker](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/color-accessibility-checker): Check color contrast ratios for WCAG compliance - [Color Space Converter](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/color-space-converter): Convert a color between HEX, RGB, HSL, CIELAB, and Display-P3 with CSS-ready output and gamut checks. - [Color Vision Accessibility Checker](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/color-vision-accessibility-checker): Measure WCAG contrast, simulate major color-vision deficiencies, and optionally flag low-contrast regions in a UI screenshot - [Accessibility Checker](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/accessibility-checker): Detect common WCAG 2.1 accessibility issues in HTML, fetched pages, or design images and return fix-ready guidance - [Color Opacity Adjuster](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/color-opacity-adjuster): Adjust color opacity/alpha transparency with real-time preview and batch processing - [Color Scheme Generator](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/color-scheme-generator): Generate professional color schemes and palettes for design projects - [Color Shade Generator](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/color-shade): Generate darker variations of a color by adding black, creating rich shades for depth and contrast in design ## Samples - [Color Code Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/color-code): Collection of color codes in various formats (Hex, RGB, HSL, named colors) for validation testing - [Android Image Processing Java Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/android-image-processing-java): Android Java image processing examples including reading/saving images, scaling, and format conversion - [Android Image Processing Kotlin Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/android-image-processing-kotlin): Android Kotlin image processing examples including reading/saving images, scaling, and format conversion - [Web Image Processing Python Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/web-image-processing-python): Web Python image processing examples using PIL/Pillow including reading, saving, resizing, and format conversion ## Related content - [Accessible Color System Design Tools](https://elysiatools.com/en/hubs/color-design-tools): Build a reusable color system by transforming colors, generating harmonies, checking contrast and color vision, and documenting tokens. - [Pre-Publish Web Accessibility Audit](https://elysiatools.com/en/hubs/web-accessibility-audits): Review a page or UI component for structural, reading-order, screenshot-contrast, and color-vision risks, then turn automated findings into a human-reviewed release record.