Check images and multimedia for accessibility

Checking images

You can check your images are accessible by making sure they have alternative texts.

To do this turn off images so that the alternative texts are displayed on screen – type 'edge://settings/content/images' in the Edge address bar, then untick the 'Show all' checkbox.

You should check that:

• text appears where the images should be
• the text describes the image or the reason it's there

Why does this matter

When an image doesn't have an alternative text, someone who can't see the image won't know what it’s for. This could be because they’re blind, or because they have images turned off in their browser.

It’s especially important that images which communicate information have alternative texts. Find out more in the gov.uk guidance on writing alternative text.

Checking multimedia

You can find out if videos are accessible by watching them without sound or listening to them without looking at the screen.

What to do

You should:

• watch video with the volume turned down
• listen to video with your monitor turned off

What to look for

Check that:

• captions are provided
• captions are accurate – automatic captions are not good enough unless they have been checked and edited
• a transcript is available – either on the page or via a link
• the video makes sense, and it's clear who is speaking and what's happening – if not the video will need audio description (AD)

Why does this matter

Captions are essential for Deaf and hard of hearing people. They're also helpful for people who don't have English as their first language.

When the video has important information that's only communicated visually, AD is essential for blind and partially sighted people.

Deafblind people can read the transcript using a refreshable Braille machine.

Further information

• W3C gives guidance on how to make images accessible. It also has a useful alt decision tree that can help you decide what alternative text you need to include.