I started sharing tips and strategies for how to write alt text for memes after I noticed how much accessible memes made a difference when I was browsing online content— things like alt text and image descriptions can help me figure out what is in an image if I have trouble seeing it or zooming in. While accessible memes may seem like they are insignificant compared to other types of content, memes are a cornerstone of social media and online communication/social interaction, and it can be isolating for people with visual impairments to not have access to images that are frequently brought up in digital or physical environments. Additionally, fewer than 1% of images online contain alt text or image descriptions for people with vision loss, which further contributes to access barriers for people with visual impairments (inclusive of blind, low vision, and CVI) and the assistive technologies like screen readers and braille displays that enable access to information. Updated in 2025, here is a guide for how to write alt text for memes, written by someone with low vision.
What to know about assistive technology and accessibility for memes
When it comes to making visual and/or audiovisual content accessible, I find it helpful to think of accessibility in terms of low-visual access (making things easier to see) and non-visual access (ensuring things can be accessed without having to look at them). I also use the phrase visual impairment as an umbrella term inclusive of blind, low vision, and neurological visual impairment (also known as cortical visual impairment or CVI). It’s important to remember that visual impairment is a spectrum, not a binary, and that there are many tools and strategies that individuals may use when accessing comics or other digital content— though writing alt text and image descriptions is a great strategy for improving both visual accessibility and non-visual accessibility. The author of this post has Category 2 low vision as the result of an eye condition and a brain condition.
Before I get into the guidelines for how to write alt text for memes, here are some helpful terms and definitions to know:
Alt text (alternative text)
Alt text refers to a short, text-based description of an image that is read by screen readers or displayed on a braille display in lieu of an image. If an image fails to load on a website, alt text will display in its place for all users. Alt text is generally not visible to people who do not use assistive technologies, with the exception of some social media platforms like BlueSky, Mastodon, and X. Alt text can be embedded in images posted online, on social media, or in documents, but saving an image or copy/pasting it does not save its alt text.
Image description
Image descriptions are text-based descriptions of an image that are displayed as part of captions or are “exposed” so that anyone can read them or benefit from them. They may also be read out loud with a screen reader or displayed on a braille display. Image descriptions are often longer and more detailed than alt text, and also provide options for formatting text with lists, additional spacing, and more. Image descriptions can also be viewed in large print.
Image descriptions tend to go more in-depth about visual details than alt text due to the larger character limit. Some users prefer to write a more detailed image description and write a shorter description for alt text, since someone using a screen reader would have to listen to the entirety of embedded alt text in order to access an image. For example, alt text might tell a user there is a toy poodle running after a ball, but image description may go into more detail and share that it is a black toy poodle running through the grass and chasing a red ball on the ground. Both of these descriptions are written with the assumption that the dog is the most important detail in the photo, and the user wants to know what the dog is doing.
Text-to-speech
Text-to-speech and speech synthesis tools read text out loud or convert text content to braille, and enable people with visual impairments to access visual interfaces with gestures, keyboard shortcuts, or without having to look at the screen. Screen readers will recognize text, labeled buttons, emoji, keyboard input, menus, and images that have alt text included, and will display the alt text in lieu of the image. Images that do not have alt text are essentially invisible, and the user has no way of knowing what is in an image unless there is alt text included.
Some users will activate text-to-speech or screen readers as needed for short reading tasks and use them in addition to accessing information visually, though many users completely rely on a screen reader and/or connected braille display to access information.
Transcript
It can help to think of an image description or alt text as a transcript, sharing information about visual content and text so that someone can follow along. Sharing image descriptions as a transcript it is ideal for non-visual access and can be especially useful for people with cerebral visual impairment/cortical visual impairment (CVI) who may find it difficult or impossible to access images or use them to provide additional context or clarification about what is in an image.
Related links
- How To Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions for the Visually Impaired
- How To Write Alt Text For Amateur Art
- A to Z of Assistive Technology for Reading Digital Text
- Emoji Accessibility and Low Vision
- Purposes of Media Descriptions for Visual Impairment
- How To Add Alt Text On Social Media
- Meet The Cast: Supporting Literacy For Students With CVI
- How To Create High Resolution Images For Low Vision
How to write alt text and image descriptions for memes
First, write out any text that is in the image
A lot of memes I encounter have text written on the top half of the image that provides context for the bottom half. So it’s important to write out the text verbatim prior to describing the rest of the image. Don’t worry about describing the font it’s written in unless the font is part of the joke— for example, if it’s a decorative cursive font or brightly colored. Terms like “screenshot of” or “image of” are also unnecessary.
Describe who or what is there
Is it a picture of a dog? Or is it a picture of SpongeBob? Maybe it is a picture of a gallon of milk? As a visually impaired user, I won’t know unless you tell me. Give a brief description of the subject, but don’t go into a large amount of detail, since most people with vision loss have visual references for objects and characters. If the subject’s appearance has been altered in some way, make sure to note that, like if the dog is a shiba inu with a bow on its head or if SpongeBob has a blurry background around him.
In the case of the shiba inu, there is a specific meme called Cheems that describes a specific sesame (yellow) shiba inu. In this case it would be okay to write “Cheems” or “shiba inu.” The same goes for writing celebrity names or character names from TV shows.
Explain what the subject is doing
So I now know what the text says and what’s in the picture, but what is it doing? Try to describe what’s happening in a sentence or two. For example, the shiba inu with a bow on its head may be smiling at the camera, or the picture of SpongeBob features him looking around a room cautiously while dressed as a caveman.
When it comes to writing alt text, one helpful strategy is to imagine someone is on a phone call describing an image to a friend, and what details they would want their friend to know about in order to understand the image or following along in conversation. Others may find it more helpful to imagine they are describing an item on a podcast or radio show where the listener can’t ask clarifying questions. Both strategies are intended to help the describer identify what is relevant in an image, and how someone else would be expected to perceive it.
Don’t be afraid to give away the punchline
When there was a viral meme that involved pictures that have descriptions rhyming with song lyrics, I was highly confused because many descriptions were vague and I had no idea how the image of a pile of fruit could be perceived as funny when connected to something simply labeled “song lyrics.” I later found out the image was a lemon on a pear, rhyming with the caption which had lyrics from the song “Livin’ on a Prayer.” For this image, I would create the following alt text, indicating when the meme switches from text-based to image-based content:
“Text caption whoah, we’re halfway there, whoah-oh, followed by image of a lemon on a pear“
The primary goal of alt text and image descriptions should be to answer the following questions:
- What is in the image?
- Why is this relevant?
- What does the user need to know about this image in order to understand it?
Related links
How to write alt text for different types of memes
Reaction images
Reaction images are often simple and don’t have a lot of text— they are meant to be used alongside an accompanying text caption. Here are some examples of how to write alt text for reaction images:
- Millie Bobby Brown holding up a notebook page that says “what does that mean?” The image has been edited to include text on the page.
- A seven year old boy making a heart shape with his hands and smiling
- Large crowd of people giving a standing ovation
- A black lab giving the side eye
- Lisa Simpson listening to music on her earbuds with a relaxed facial expression and her arms extended outwards while smiling.
- Private the penguin with a confused and panicked expression, from Penguins of Madagascar.
Text threads and storytimes
These tend to have mostly text on them, so I recommend only writing out the text and ignoring the decorative images that often exist for no purpose. If there is too much text, write out a transcript in the caption of the post that shares everything that is written.
Niche memes
Niche memes and collages tend to have several images and text overlays in one picture. Here is how to write alt text for these types of content:
- Write the title of the image or caption that introduces the image
- List items from top to bottom and left to right, in the order that the reader is expected to view them. For example, an image that has a wheel in it with labels on each segment would list the labels from left to right in a sequential reading order
- When possible, group objects with their corresponding text label. For example, a photo of stuffed animals that each have their own text labels should be listed using a format like “pink unicorn captioned ‘friend’, capybara captioned ‘also friend’, blue shark captioned ‘another friend’”
- Another option is to write out all of the captions first and then describe the objects on the image. So I would write out “Here’s what I did at the beach today. I collected shells, I went in the water, and I made a sandcastle. Pictures include a conch shell, a picture of the ocean’s surface, and a sandcastle.”
- Ensure that the text is written in a way that follows a logical order, but is also written in the same way that the audience is expected to interpret it, such as if words are supposed to rhyme or be written similar to song lyrics.
Comics
See “Related Links” at the end of this post for my full list of tips on writing alt text for comics.
Object labeling memes
Another common meme I’ve seen features text overlayed on top of two objects to convey a message. Here’s some examples of how to write alt text for object labeling memes:
- A samoyed puppy with the words “another one” written on its back bites another samoyed puppy that has the words “the dust” written on its back.
- A man with the word “trees” written on his back rolls a bowling ball that has the phrase “so much pollen” written on it. The bowling ball is traveling towards pins that are labeled “my nose and eyeballs”
Adding alt text and image descriptions to social media posts
Should I use automatic alt text?
No, don’t use automatic alt text for a meme. Automatic alt text tools can be helpful for recognizing text in an image, but often lack essential details about characters, settings, and other contextual information that can help readers understand what is happening in a comic or how it connects to other items. The responses are almost meme worthy themselves and can include erroneously identifying objects, providing overly verbose descriptions that aren’t funny, missing key details, or producing inaccurate results for blurry or “deep fried” memes.
Memes are often shared with specific purposes in mind, so alt text should provide context or clarification about what is in the image and enable nonvisual access to the same information that is shared visually. Please take the extra few minutes to write alt text, as it goes a long way in helping people access visual content!
Alt text and image descriptions on social media platforms
Here are the policies for alt text on popular social media platforms, copied from my post on How To Add Alt Text on Social Media.
- Twitter (X) supports alt text up to 1,000 characters, though alt text cannot be added or edited after an image or gif is posted.
- BlueSky supports alt text up to 2,000 characters, though alt text cannot be added or edited after an image is posted.
- Mastodon supports alt text up to 1,500 characters, though alt text cannot be added or edited after an image or gif is posted.
- Instagram supports alt text up to 100 characters, and alt text can be added or edited after a picture is posted.
- Threads supports alt text up to 1,000 characters, though alt text cannot be added or edited after an image is posted.
- Facebook supports alt text up to 100 characters, and alt text can be added or edited after a picture is posted.
- Tumblr supports alt text up to 4,096 characters, and alt text can be added or edited after a picture or gif is posted.
- Pinterest supports alt text up to 800 characters, and alt text can be added to static/image or video pins after they are posted.
- LinkedIn supports alt text up to 120 characters, and alt text cannot be added or edited after a picture is posted
Image descriptions can be added or edited as captions on Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, and Pinterest, or added in the replies of a tweet either in the form of a text-based description or extended image description.
Related links
- How To Add Alt Text On Social Media
- Options For Writing Extended Image Descriptions On Social Media
- Tips For Censoring Text With Accessibility In Mind
- How To Access Images Without Alt Text
- How To Write Alt Text For Educational Content
More resources for how to write alt text for memes
- How To Write Alt Text For Digital Comics
- How To Write Alt Text For Gifs
- How To Make ASCII/Emoji Memes Accessible For Visual Impairment
- How To Write Alt Text For Amateur Art
- How To Write Video Descriptions For Animal Videos On Social Media
- How To Write Video Descriptions For TikTok
- How To Write Alt Text And Image Descriptions For Food
- Creating Accessible Crafting Tutorials For Visual Impairment
- How To Describe Dance Choreography Videos For Visually Impaired
Published November 29, 2018. Updated February 2025