Definition
Alt text (PDF)
The textual description a screen reader speaks for an image, stored on the Figure tag's /Alt entry inside a PDF's structure. Meaningful alt text conveys what the image shows — not the word 'image'.
Because alt text lives on structure elements, an untagged PDF cannot carry any. Good practice: describe the information the image contributes ('bar chart: revenue rising 2020–2024'), mark purely decorative graphics as artifacts instead of describing them.
Related tools & guides
Check whether your PDF is accessible
Ceereo audits any born-digital PDF against PDF/UA and WCAG machine checks for free, then writes the missing accessibility layer into the same file. The document looks exactly the same afterwards.