-ms-high-contrast

The -ms-high-contrast CSS media feature is a Microsoft extension that describes whether the application is being displayed in high contrast mode, and with what color variation.

High Contrast Mode is a specialized display mode that prioritizes making content as legible as possible by dynamically replacing foreground and background colors with a user-specified theme. For web content, theme colors are mapped to content types.

This media feature applies to bitmap media types. It does not accept min/max prefixes.

Syntax

The -ms-high-contrast media feature is specified as one of the following values.

Values

none

...
No longer supported as of Microsoft Edge 18.

active

Indicates that the subsequent styling rules will be applied when the system is placed in high contrast mode with any color variation.

black-on-white

Indicates that the subsequent styling rules will be applied when the system is placed in high contrast mode with a black-on-white color variation.

white-on-black

Indicates that the subsequent styling rules will be applied when the system is placed in high contrast mode with a white-on-black color variation.

Formal syntax

Syntax not found in DB!

Examples

Matching any high-contrast variations

@media screen and (-ms-high-contrast: active) {
  /* All high contrast styling rules */
}

Matching a black-on-white variation

@media screen and (-ms-high-contrast: black-on-white) { 
  div { background-image: url('image-bw.png'); } 
}

Matching a white-on-black variation

@media screen and (-ms-high-contrast: white-on-black) {
  div { background-image: url('image-wb.png'); }
}

Accessibility concerns

Theming

High Contrast Mode's theme colors come from a limited subset of deprecated CSS2 system colors. The available color keywords are:

• windowText: controls the color of text content.
• highlightText: controls the color of selected text.
• highlight: controls the background color of selected text.
• buttonFace: controls the color of a <button> element's text.
• window: controls the color of the background.
• The <a> element controls the color of links.

Because High Contrast Mode themes are dynamic, use these color keywords in place of other CSS color values. This will ensure that content will always be able to be perceived.

Content

If at all possible, prefer updating HTML markup over modifying content using CSS2 system color keywords. This helps keep the content more predictable.

Specifications

Not part of any standard.

Remarks

As of Microsoft Edge 18, -ms-high-contrast: none is no longer supported. Microsoft Edge versions 18 and higher will be using the forced-colors media feature instead, but the forced-colors media feature specification is still being actively worked on.

The -ms-high-contrast media feature works with the -ms-high-contrast-adjust property.

The -ms-high-contrast media feature was introduced in Windows 8.