How To Write Alt Text For Memes

When I first starting documenting a list of tips and strategies for how to write alt text for memes in November 2018, I never expected that my post would be shared so widely in news articles, academic journals, and assigned for students to read for homework at institutions around the world. Accessible memes are my favorite memes, and I rely on alt text and image descriptions to understand most memes because a lot of images are posted in low resolution and are challenging to enlarge. I’m profoundly grateful for all of the creators and social media users who have stepped in to make memes accessible and enjoyable for people with visual impairments like me. 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.

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.

For example, alt text might tell a user there is a puddle on the floor, but an image description might go into further detail and say there is a puddle of orange juice on a white tiled kitchen floor. In this case, alt text is used to tell the user what they absolutely need to know to understand an image, but the image description provides more contextual detail that can help someone understand what is going on, and how it relates to other items in the environment.

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.

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 screen reader 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

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:

“Text caption whoah, we’re halfway there, whoah-oh, followed by image of a lemon on a pear“

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:

Ariana Grande holding a notebook horizontally, with text inside the notebook that says “what does that mean?”
A seven year old boy making a heart shape with his hands and smiling at the camera
A teenage boy holding a stop sign still attached to the pole who looks like he’s about to hit the adult man standing in front of him
Lisa from “The Simpsons” listening to music on her earbuds with a relaxed facial expression and her arms extended outwards

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, missing key details, or producing inaccurate results for blurry or “deep fried” memes. 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.

More resources for how to write alt text for memes

Published November 29, 2018. Updated February 2025

Reference

Lewis, Veronica. (2018). How To Write Alt Text For Memes. Veroniiiica. https://veroniiiica.com/how-to-write-alt-text-for-memes/ (Accessed on December 20, 2025)