Windows High Contrast Mode: Make Text and Icons Stand Out if Vision Is Strained

Windows High Contrast mode changes your screen's color scheme to use bold, highly contrasting colors — usually white text on a black background, or black text on a white background — making text and interface elements much easier to distinguish. This feature is built into Windows and costs nothing to use.

High Contrast is helpful for people who have low vision, experience eye strain or fatigue when looking at screens, work in bright environments where glare makes normal screens hard to read, or prefer a bolder, more readable display. Some people also find that High Contrast reduces headaches during long computer sessions.

Windows offers several preset High Contrast themes. "High Contrast Black" uses white text on a black background. "High Contrast White" uses dark text on a white background. There are also two other options called "High Contrast 1" and "High Contrast 2" which use accent colors for links and selected items. You can try each one and pick the combination that is easiest for your eyes.

The keyboard shortcut to turn High Contrast on or off is Left Alt + Left Shift + Print Screen. Once you enable it, a confirmation box appears — press Enter or click Yes to confirm. Using this shortcut again toggles it back off, making it easy to switch between normal mode and High Contrast mode.

Note that High Contrast mode changes the appearance of Windows itself — the Start menu, File Explorer, Settings, and most built-in apps. Some third-party websites and apps may not fully respect the High Contrast setting, though modern browsers like Chrome and Microsoft Edge handle it well.