WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3, Contrast (Minimum), is a Level AA requirement: text has sufficient contrast against its background. It’s among the most common failures on the web: WebAIM found detectable WCAG failures on 95.9% of the top million home pages, and this criterion covers one of the six failure types they found most often (WebAIM Million, 2026 (opens in a new tab)).
Read the criterion in the W3C Recommendation, WCAG 2.2 (opens in a new tab).
How BearScan checks it
Text has sufficient contrast against its background
Checked automatically: loads the page in a browser. Severity: high. Low-contrast text is unreadable for low-vision users and for everyone in bright light. It is the most frequently detected accessibility defect on the web.
An approximation: Delegated to axe-core's color-contrast rule, which computes ratios from rendered styles. Text over images, gradients or overlapping elements cannot be measured and is forwarded as incomplete rather than passed.
How to fix it. Raise the contrast of body text to at least 4.5:1, and of large text (24px, or 18.66px bold) to at least 3:1, by darkening the text or lightening the background.
All WCAG 2.2 criteria · Next: 1.4.4 Resize Text
Questions
Is WCAG 1.4.3 required by the ADA?
The ADA doesn't name a technical standard for businesses, but the Justice Department's 2022 guidance points businesses to WCAG, and its 2024 rule for state and local governments adopted WCAG 2.1 Level AA, which includes 1.4.3.
Can an automated tool check WCAG 1.4.3?
Mostly. BearScan checks it automatically (loads the page in a browser). A clean result still isn't proof every page passes, only the pages scanned.
How do I fix a WCAG 1.4.3 failure?
Raise the contrast of body text to at least 4.5:1, and of large text (24px, or 18.66px bold) to at least 3:1, by darkening the text or lightening the background.