Goal
Make visual and auditory information available to more people.
Success Criterion · WCAG 1.1.1
Non-text Content
All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose, except for controls, input, time-based media, tests, sensory experiences, CAPTCHAs, and decoration.
Level AWCAG 2.0Perceivable1.1 · Text Alternatives
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What to do
Provide a text alternative for every piece of non-text content.
Why it matters
People who cannot fully see or hear the original content can still understand it.
Success criterion
What WCAG 1.1.1 requires
Summarized directly from the official Understanding document so teams can quote the requirement accurately.
All non-text content presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose, except for the situations listed for controls, media, tests, sensory experiences, CAPTCHAs, and decoration.
Intent
Why WCAG created this requirement
- Text alternatives allow information to be rendered in any modality (visual, auditory, tactile) that matches the user’s needs.
- Describing the purpose of non-text content lets people decide what action to take—watch, skip, or request another format.
- Future-friendly alternatives support translation, sign-language rendering, personalization, and search indexing.
Benefits
Who gains when you pass
- People who cannot perceive visual content rely on text alternatives that can be read aloud or converted to braille.
- People who struggle to interpret complex graphics gain an additional way to understand photos, diagrams, and animations.
- People who are deaf or hard of hearing can read textual descriptions of audio content that would otherwise be inaccessible.
Why it matters
User impact when this criterion fails
Summaries drawn from the Understanding document help you socialize impact statements with product stakeholders.
Screen reader and braille users depend on text alternatives to understand icons, images, charts, and functional controls.
People with limited bandwidth or who disable images need meaningful fallbacks to complete tasks and interpret content.
Text alternatives unlock reuse in search, translation, personalization, and analytics because the purpose can be programmatically determined.
Exception guidelines
Use the WCAG 1.1.1 exceptions correctly
Document the rationale for each exception and note which alternative support you provide.
Controls and inputs
Icons, image buttons, and custom inputs must expose a text alternative that describes the action or target.
Requirement
Provide an accessible name that matches the visible label or describes the control’s action (e.g., “Submit order”).
Time-based media
Audio, video, or synchronized media should reference the dedicated alternatives described in Guideline 1.2.
Requirement
Link to captions, transcripts, or audio descriptions rather than duplicating all content within the text alternative.
Tests and exercises
If providing a text alternative would invalidate a test or drill (for example identifying a sound), it is exempt.
Requirement
Explain why exposing the answer would nullify the test and ensure there is an alternative way to complete the objective.
Sensory experiences
Purely sensory art or experiences such as ASMR can describe the experience, but are not required to encode every sensation.
Requirement
Provide a high-level description so users know what the experience is, while acknowledging that texture or smell cannot be fully translated.
CAPTCHAs
You may keep a CAPTCHA obfuscated, but you must offer a different modality that is also accessible.
Requirement
Offer at least one alternative challenge (audio, logic puzzle, or honeypot) with instructions available in text.
Decoration / layout
Assets that provide no information and are ignored by assistive tech can be marked decorative.
Requirement
Use empty alt text (alt="") or CSS background images so they are skipped by virtual cursors.
Overview
Provide text alternatives for every non-text component so the same purpose or information can be conveyed through assistive technologies, alternate rendering modes, or downstream formats such as transcripts and braille.
- Choose the text alternative technique that best represents the purpose (alt attribute, aria-label, adjacent caption, or link to a long description).
- Describe the intention of the content, not literal pixels: focus on what the user needs to know or do when encountering it.
- Use the exception rules when text would invalidate a test, change a sensory experience, or when the asset is purely decorative.
Reference: All summaries and highlights originate from Understanding WCAG 1.1.1 and the W3C quick reference.
Fast facts
- Conformance level
- Level A
- WCAG version introduced
- WCAG 2.0
- Principle
- Perceivable
- Guideline
- 1.1 · Text Alternatives
Why it matters
User impact when this criterion fails
Summaries based on the official Understanding WCAG guidance help socialize impact statements with stakeholders.
Screen reader and braille users depend on text alternatives to understand icons, images, charts, and functional controls.
People with limited bandwidth or who disable images need meaningful fallbacks to complete tasks and interpret content.
Text alternatives unlock reuse in search, translation, personalization, and analytics because the purpose can be programmatically determined.
Exception guidelines
Use the WCAG 1.1.1 exceptions correctly
Document when an exception applies and what alternative support the experience provides.
Controls and inputs
Icons, image buttons, and custom inputs must expose a text alternative that describes the action or target.
Requirement
Provide an accessible name that matches the visible label or describes the control’s action (e.g., “Submit order”).
Time-based media
Audio, video, or synchronized media should reference the dedicated alternatives described in Guideline 1.2.
Requirement
Link to captions, transcripts, or audio descriptions rather than duplicating all content within the text alternative.
Tests and exercises
If providing a text alternative would invalidate a test or drill (for example identifying a sound), it is exempt.
Requirement
Explain why exposing the answer would nullify the test and ensure there is an alternative way to complete the objective.
Sensory experiences
Purely sensory art or experiences such as ASMR can describe the experience, but are not required to encode every sensation.
Requirement
Provide a high-level description so users know what the experience is, while acknowledging that texture or smell cannot be fully translated.
CAPTCHAs
You may keep a CAPTCHA obfuscated, but you must offer a different modality that is also accessible.
Requirement
Offer at least one alternative challenge (audio, logic puzzle, or honeypot) with instructions available in text.
Decoration / layout
Assets that provide no information and are ignored by assistive tech can be marked decorative.
Requirement
Use empty alt text (alt="") or CSS background images so they are skipped by virtual cursors.
Examples
Make success tangible for teams
Share pass/fail snapshots to coach designers, engineers, QA, and content authors.
Informative chart
Pass
Alt text: “Line chart showing quarterly revenue growth from $1.3M to $2.1M between Q1 and Q4.” plus link to downloadable CSV.
Fail
Alt text: “Chart” or leaving the attribute empty, which hides critical business context.
Functional icon button
Pass
Icon-only “Save” button exposes aria-label="Save settings" that matches tooltip copy.
Fail
Accessible name defaults to “button” because the SVG has no title, so screen reader users cannot discover the action.
Decorative flourish
Pass
Purely decorative wave graphic uses role="presentation" and alt="" so it is skipped.
Fail
Decorative SVG receives an autogenerated filename as alt text, cluttering the virtual cursor.
Evidence to keep
Document conformance decisions
Capture artifacts for VPATs, procurement reviews, and regression testing.
- Screenshot key templates with callouts showing the visible label and the programmatic name/alt text.
- Create a reference table mapping component names to their expected accessible name or ARIA labeling strategy.
- Store links to captions, transcripts, or data-table equivalents for each media or visualization asset.
Official resources
Deep dives and supporting material
Keep these links handy when writing acceptance criteria or responding to audits.
Implementation checklist
Capture progress and blockers
- Inventory all non-text assets (images, SVGs, canvas drawings, icon fonts, charts, Lottie animations).
- Classify each asset by purpose: informative, functional, decorative, status, or complex data visualization.
- Write concise alt text or accessible names that explain intent (“Download statement PDF”) instead of visual description.
- Provide long descriptions or data tables for complex graphics such as dashboards, diagrams, or infographics.
- Mark decorative images with empty alt attributes and ensure CSS-generated imagery is not announced.
- Offer alternative challenges for CAPTCHAs and document exception rationale for tests or sensory experiences.
Testing ideas
Prove conformance with evidence
- Run automated tooling (axe, Lighthouse, WAVE) to flag missing or suspicious alt attributes.
- Tab and arrow through the experience with a screen reader to confirm controls expose accurate names and states.
- Disable images in the browser or use a text-only view to ensure all information remains available.
- Inspect the accessibility tree in browser devtools to verify decorative assets are hidden and informative ones expose useful names.
- Review transcripts, captions, and linked long descriptions to confirm they remain synced with the referenced media or chart.
Related success criteria
More from Text Alternatives (1.1)
No additional criteria in this guideline.