All WCAG criteria
WCAG 1.4.5 · PerceivableLevel AA

1.4.5Images of Text

Use real text instead of images of text, except where a particular presentation is essential (logos, branding).

Common failures

Patterns that fail this criterion.

  • 01Marketing banners rendered as PNG with text baked in
  • 02Hero "headline" images that include text
  • 03Pricing tables saved as images
How to test

Testing approach: manual.

Manual — review hero banners, marketing tiles, pricing — confirm important text is HTML, not part of an image.

How to fix

Remediation steps.

  1. 1

    Use HTML + CSS

    Style text with CSS — fonts, colors, gradients, shadows. All scalable, translatable, and selectable.

  2. 2

    Exception: logos

    Logos with stylized typography are essential presentation and exempt — provide alt text matching the brand name.

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Related criteria

Often appears with…

WCAG 1.1.1 · Level A

Non-text Content

All 50 WCAG 2.1 Level A + AA success criteria explained.

View the full checklist