Window Tint Laws in Australia by State: VLT Limits Compared (2026)

Most Australian jurisdictions require a minimum 35% front and 20% rear visible light transmission for window tint, but the Northern Territory genuinely allows 15% rear, and Western Australia's current rule sits in a 2014 regulation, not the 2002 rule many older sources still cite.

Jurisdiction scope: This page compares window tint visible light transmission (VLT) minimums across the Australian states and territories where a figure could be verified from a primary source, current as of 20 July 2026. Victoria and Tasmania are not stated because their figures could not be verified. This is general legal information, not legal advice about a specific vehicle's compliance.

Window Tint VLT Minimums by Jurisdiction

Windscreen: most jurisdictions require at least 70% VLT below the wiper arc, with the top 10% of the windscreen (or the area above the wiper sweep) permitted to be tinted, and reflectance generally capped at 10%.

Why VLT Minimums Matter and How They Are Measured

Visible light transmission (VLT) measures the percentage of light that passes through tinted glass; a lower VLT percentage means a darker tint. Every Australian jurisdiction sets a minimum VLT for the front side windows, and most set a separate, lower minimum for the rear side windows and rear window, on the basis that a driver's forward and side vision through the front windows matters more for safety than visibility through the rear. Because the numbers are close across most jurisdictions, 35% front is near-universal, it is easy to assume every state's rear figure and windscreen rule also match. Two genuine exceptions in this comparison, the Northern Territory's 15% rear minimum and Western Australia's specific current regulation, show why the figure needs to be checked jurisdiction by jurisdiction rather than assumed.

New South Wales: A Mirror-Dependent Rear Rule

NSW requires a minimum 35% VLT on front side windows. Its rear rule is conditional: 20% VLT is permitted on rear side windows and the rear window where the vehicle is fitted with two exterior mirrors, but if the vehicle relies on a single driver-side mirror only, the rear minimum rises to 35%, the same as the front. Reflective or mirror-like tint is not permitted in NSW.

Queensland: 0% Permitted for Goods Vehicles

Queensland's Vehicle Standards and Safety Regulation 2021 sets a 35% front and 20% rear minimum, with dual exterior mirrors required to use the lower rear figure. Section 44 of that regulation permits goods vehicles to be fitted with tint down to 0% VLT on rear-of-driver glazing, reflecting the more limited safety role rear vision plays in a vehicle not carrying passengers behind the driver.

Western Australia: reg 260, Not the Repealed 2002 Rules

Western Australia's current window tint rule is regulation 260 of the Road Traffic (Vehicles) Regulations 2014: front side windows at least 35% VLT, rear side and rear windows at least 20%, with goods vehicles permitted down to 0% on rear-of-driver glazing. The windscreen must be at least 70% VLT, except for a permitted tinted band across the top, above the area swept by the wipers, and reflectance is capped at 10%. This is a sourcing trap worth flagging explicitly: the earlier Road Traffic (Vehicle Standards) Rules 2002, which set a uniform 35% for all non-windscreen glazing with no front/rear split, was repealed on 27 April 2015. That repealed instrument, and the associated Vehicle Safety and Standards Bulletin IB-119D, can still be found circulating online and should never be cited as WA's current rule.

South Australia: The Same 35/20 Structure, With a Goods Exception

South Australia applies the same 35% front, 20% rear structure as Queensland and Western Australia, with goods vehicles permitted down to 0% VLT on rear-of-driver glazing.

ACT: No Minimum for Goods Vehicles or Certain Vehicle Classes

The ACT requires 35% VLT on front side windows and 20% on rear side and rear windows for standard passenger vehicles, but sets no minimum tint requirement at all for goods vehicles, and no limit for buses, limousines, ambulances or hearses. Glazing fitted to a vehicle before 1 October 1996 is also exempt from the current limits, reflecting a transitional carve-out for older vehicles rather than a general relaxation of the rule.

Northern Territory: 15% Rear Is Real, Not an Error

The Northern Territory's front side window minimum matches the rest of the country at 35%, but its rear minimum is a genuine outlier at 15%, well below the 20% used almost everywhere else. This is not an aggregator artefact or a misreading of a bulletin: it traces to a specific Registrar of Motor Vehicles exemption under Gazette Notice G2, dated 14 January 2009, made under section 135 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which amended Schedule 6 Rule 44 of the Motor Vehicles (Standards) Regulations to permit a luminous transmittance of not less than 15% on glazing rearward of the driver's seating position. A second exemption, Gazette S119 of 26 November 2014, goes further for heavy vehicles: it removes all rear-of-driver tint limits for vehicles over 4.5 tonnes gross vehicle mass. Both exemptions are documented in the NT's own Information Bulletin V51, and a reader should treat the 15% figure as the genuine current NT rule, not a typo for 20% or 25%.

Victoria and Tasmania: Figures Not Verified

This page does not state front or rear VLT figures for Victoria or Tasmania. Every primary source candidate checked for Victoria's window tint rule was either blocked or returned an unparseable document at the time of writing, and no reliable primary figure could be obtained for Tasmania either. Search-only figures commonly quoted for both states (for example, 35% front and 20% rear) are not verified against a primary regulation here and should not be relied on without independent confirmation directly from VicRoads/Transport Victoria or transport.tas.gov.au.

See the full jurisdiction comparison on the Australia driving laws hub. Window tint compliance can be checked at the same inspection as other vehicle standards; for related enforcement topics see speeding fines in Australia and demerit points explained across Australia. State-specific detail is also available on Western Australia demerit points and Northern Territory demerit points.

This page provides general legal information about window tint VLT requirements across Australia, verified 20 July 2026. It is not legal advice about whether a specific vehicle's tint complies with the law in a specific jurisdiction. For advice about compliance or an infringement, consult a legal practitioner admitted in the relevant Australian state or territory, or the vehicle standards branch of the relevant transport authority.