WCAG

aid: wcag
name: WCAG
description: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of international standards published by the W3C Web Accessibility
  Initiative (WAI) for making web content accessible to people with disabilities. WCAG covers a wide range of recommendations
  across four principles (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust), with conformance levels A, AA, and AAA. WCAG 2.2
  (ISO/IEC 40500:2025) is the current standard, while WCAG 3.0 is in active development targeting broader coverage of websites,
  mobile apps, VR environments, and digital documents.
type: Index
url: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/
tags:
- Accessibility
- W3C
- WCAG
- Web Standards
- Disability
- Inclusive Design
created: '2025'
modified: '2026-05-03'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: wcag:wcag-2-2
  name: WCAG 2.2
  description: 'Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2, the current stable version and ISO/IEC 40500:2025 standard. Introduces
    9 new success criteria beyond WCAG 2.1, including focus appearance, dragging movements, and consistent help. Organized
    into four principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR).'
  humanURL: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/
  tags:
  - WCAG 2.2
  - Accessibility
  - Web Standards
  - ISO
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/
    title: WCAG 2.2 Specification
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/quickref/
    title: WCAG 2.2 Quick Reference
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/w3c/wcag
    title: WCAG GitHub Repository
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/wcag-success-criterion-schema.json
    title: Success Criterion Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/wcag-conformance-claim-schema.json
    title: Conformance Claim Schema
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/wcag-success-criterion-structure.json
    title: Success Criterion Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/wcag-conformance-claim-structure.json
    title: Conformance Claim Structure
- aid: wcag:wcag-3-0
  name: WCAG 3.0
  description: W3C Accessibility Guidelines 3.0 (working draft), expanding scope beyond web content to cover mobile apps,
    VR, authoring tools, and digital documents. Introduces outcome-based testing and a new scoring model. Working Draft published
    January 2026; Candidate Recommendation targeted Q4 2027.
  humanURL: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/wcag3-intro/
  tags:
  - WCAG 3.0
  - Accessibility
  - Web Standards
  - Working Draft
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/wcag3-intro/
    title: WCAG 3.0 Introduction
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://w3c.github.io/wcag3/guidelines/
    title: WCAG 3.0 Editor Draft
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/w3c/wcag3
    title: WCAG 3.0 GitHub Repository
- aid: wcag:wai-aria
  name: WAI-ARIA
  description: Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.2 specification providing semantic roles, states, and properties
    for accessible user interface components. Includes API mappings for browsers and assistive technologies.
  humanURL: https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/
  tags:
  - WAI-ARIA
  - Accessibility
  - Semantic Web
  - User Interface
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/
    title: WAI-ARIA Specification
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.w3.org/TR/aria-in-html/
    title: ARIA in HTML
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/w3c/aria-practices
    title: ARIA Authoring Practices GitHub
- aid: wcag:act-rules
  name: Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) Rules
  description: ACT Rules provide machine-executable rules for testing WCAG 2.x conformance, enabling consistent automated
    and manual accessibility evaluation across tools and methodologies.
  humanURL: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/act/
  tags:
  - ACT Rules
  - Accessibility Testing
  - Automated Testing
  - WCAG
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/act/
    title: ACT Rules Overview
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://act-rules.github.io/
    title: ACT Rules Community
common:
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/wcag-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://www.w3.org/WAI/
  title: W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
- type: Documentation
  url: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/
  title: W3C Accessibility Standards Overview
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/w3c
  title: W3C GitHub Organization
- type: Tools
  url: https://www.w3.org/WAI/test-evaluate/tools/list/
  title: Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List
- type: Tools
  url: https://github.com/w3c/wcag-em-report-tool
  title: WCAG-EM Report Tool
- type: Vocabulary
  url: vocabulary/wcag-vocabulary.yml
  title: WCAG Vocabulary
- type: JSONLD
  url: json-ld/wcag-context.jsonld
  title: WCAG JSON-LD Context
- type: Features
  data:
  - name: Four Accessibility Principles (POUR)
    description: 'WCAG 2.x guidelines are organized around four principles: Perceivable (information must be presentable to
      users), Operable (UI must be navigable), Understandable (content must be comprehensible), and Robust (content must be
      interpretable by assistive technologies).'
  - name: Three Conformance Levels
    description: Success criteria are classified as Level A (minimum), Level AA (standard), and Level AAA (enhanced), enabling
      graduated implementation roadmaps.
  - name: Testable Success Criteria
    description: Each guideline contains specific, testable success criteria that provide a clear pass/fail basis for accessibility
      evaluation and legal compliance.
  - name: ACT Rules Integration
    description: Machine-executable ACT Rules enable consistent automated testing of WCAG conformance across multiple evaluation
      tools.
  - name: Techniques and Failures Documentation
    description: Extensive documentation of sufficient techniques, advisory techniques, and common failures for implementing
      and evaluating each success criterion.
  - name: WCAG 3.0 Outcome-Based Model
    description: WCAG 3.0 introduces a scoring-based conformance model with outcomes replacing binary pass/fail for more nuanced
      accessibility assessment.
- type: UseCases
  data:
  - name: Legal Compliance
    description: Organizations use WCAG 2.1/2.2 Level AA to meet legal accessibility requirements including ADA, Section 508,
      EN 301 549, and AODA.
  - name: Automated Accessibility Testing
    description: Development teams integrate ACT Rules into CI/CD pipelines to automatically catch WCAG violations in web
      applications.
  - name: Screen Reader Compatibility
    description: WAI-ARIA roles and properties enable web applications to communicate semantic structure and state to screen
      readers and assistive technologies.
  - name: Accessibility Auditing
    description: Accessibility specialists use WCAG criteria as the evaluation framework for manual and automated accessibility
      audits.
  - name: Inclusive Design
    description: Design and engineering teams reference WCAG guidelines during the design phase to build accessibility in
      from the start rather than retrofitting.
- type: Integrations
  data:
  - name: axe-core
    description: Popular open-source accessibility testing engine that maps test rules to WCAG success criteria.
  - name: WAVE
    description: Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool that visually highlights WCAG issues on web pages.
  - name: Lighthouse
    description: Google Lighthouse includes accessibility audits mapped to WCAG criteria.
  - name: NVDA and JAWS
    description: Screen readers that implement WAI-ARIA API mappings to communicate accessible rich web content to blind and
      low-vision users.
  - name: ISO/IEC 40500
    description: WCAG 2.2 is identical to ISO/IEC 40500:2025, enabling reference in international procurement and regulatory
      requirements.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com