WCAG 2.1 · Level AA · Perceivable
WCAG 1.4.5 — Images of Text, explained with examples
If the technologies used can achieve the visual presentation, text must not be replaced by an image of text. Images of text do not scale, cannot be selected, do not respond to user font preferences, and need duplicate alt text.
- Number
- 1.4.5
- Level
- AA
- Principle
- Perceivable
- Guideline
- 1.4 Distinguishable
Why this criterion exists
Images of text do not scale, cannot be selected, do not respond to user font preferences, and need duplicate alt text.
If you only remember one thing: if the technologies used can achieve the visual presentation, text must not be replaced by an image of text. Everything else on this page is detail.
Who feels it when this fails
Accessibility criteria sometimes feel abstract until you see who pays the cost when a site ignores them. Images of Text affects:
Low-vision users zooming
Users with custom fonts/dyslexia tools
Search engines
How sites typically fail it
These are the patterns we see week after week. None are intentional — they are accidents of how teams build interfaces under deadline. Knowing the failure modes is the fastest path to writing them out of your component library.
Marketing hero text rendered as PNG
Pricing tables exported from Figma as image
How to test for it
Try to highlight the text. If you cannot, it is an image.
Automated scanners catch this criterion most of the time, but never all of the time. Manual testing with the keyboard and a screen reader closes the gap.
A code fix you can copy
CSS can deliver any visual you need. Reach for an image only when the visual is fundamentally not achievable in HTML/CSS.
The problem
<img src="/hero-text.png" alt="Save 50% on accessibility audits">The fix
<h1 class="text-4xl font-bold">Save 50% on accessibility audits</h1>CSS can deliver any visual you need. Reach for an image only when the visual is fundamentally not achievable in HTML/CSS.
Frequently asked questions
Are images of text in email newsletters covered by 1.4.5?
WCAG applies to web content, and HTML emails are generally considered web content. Promotional emails with marketing text rendered as images fail 1.4.5 and 1.1.1 simultaneously. Use real HTML text in emails — email clients now support web fonts robustly, removing the main historical reason to use text images.
Are logotypes exempt from 1.4.5?
Yes. WCAG explicitly exempts logotypes — text that is part of a logo or brand name. A company's wordmark as an image is fine. However, page titles, hero headings, and marketing copy that happen to be styled to match the brand are not logotypes and must use real text.
Other Perceivable criteria
1.1.1 Non-text Content
Perceivable · Level A
1.3.1 Info and Relationships
Perceivable · Level A
1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)
Perceivable · Level AA
1.4.11 Non-text Contrast
Perceivable · Level AA
All WCAG 2.1 criteria
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