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Cornell University

No content may flash more than 3 times per any 1-second period.

WCAG 2 criterion 2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold (A)
Category Motion

WCAG 2 criterion

2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold (Level A)

Tools and requirements

  • Manual Assessment

Test procedure

If there is any content on the page that flashes or strobes more than 3 times on a page (see the "Below Threshold" provision below for more details), mark a failure. There is no provision for pausable content for this criterion.

This applies primarily to multimedia content.

"Below Threshold" provision

The flashing according to WCAG 2 is permissible if the flashing is below a certain threshold, defined by a mathematical equation. For our purposes at Cornell, we simply flag any content that contains tons of flashing of any kind greater than 3 times per second a failure.

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