Reviewed September 30, 2026

WCAG 2.1 versus WCAG 2.2

WCAG 2.2 Level AA includes every WCAG 2.1 Level AA success criterion, then adds more. A site that meets 2.2 Level AA also meets 2.1 Level AA. The Department of Justice Title II rule still names 2.1 Level AA as the legal standard for state and local governments, and it allows a newer standard that provides equal or greater access.

What did WCAG 2.2 add?

The W3C published WCAG 2.2 as a Recommendation on 5 October 2023. The new Level A and AA criteria cover focus that is not fully hidden, dragging movements, a minimum target size, help that stays in a consistent place, not asking for the same information twice, and an accessible way to sign in without a memory test. The list is in What’s new in WCAG 2.2.

• 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum), Level AA: when a component receives focus, part of it is not hidden by author-created content such as a sticky header. The full answer is on the focus not obscured page.
• 2.5.7 Dragging Movements, Level AA: any action that uses dragging has a single-pointer alternative. The full answer is on the dragging movements page.
• 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum), Level AA: targets are at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, with listed exceptions.
• 3.2.6 Consistent Help, Level A: help mechanisms that repeat across pages stay in the same relative order.
• 3.3.7 Redundant Entry, Level A: information the user already entered can be reused or selected, unless re-entry is essential.
• 3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum), Level AA: a cognitive test is not the only way to sign in. The full answer is on the accessible authentication page.

What did not change?

The four principles are the same: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Level A and Level AA criteria from 2.0 and 2.1 remain. Orientation (1.3.4) still requires both portrait and landscape unless one is essential, covered on the orientation page. Contrast is still 4.5:1 for normal text. Captions for prerecorded video are still Level A. WCAG 2.2 also removed success criterion 4.1.1 Parsing, which is obsolete because modern browsers already parse markup. You do not need a separate “parsing” check for 2.2.

Which version should a contract name?

For a state or local government, the regulation to cite is WCAG 2.1 Level AA, with 2.2 Level AA as the working test because it is backward compatible. For a private business under Title III, neither version is named in a DOJ technical regulation. 2.2 Level AA is the current W3C Recommendation. The normative text is WCAG 2.2.

Meeting 2.2 does not mean ignoring 2.1. It means the 2.1 failures are still failures, and the new criteria are additional failures. A scanner score that only knows 2.0 rules will miss focus obscured by a sticky bar, small targets, and drag-only controls.