t - Web APIs | MDN

• Skip to main content
• Skip to search

HTMLImageElement: alt property Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

• Learn more
• See full compatibility
• Report feedback

The alt property of the HTMLImageElement interface provides fallback (alternate) text to display when the image specified by the <img> element is not displayed, whether because of an error, because the user has disabled the loading of images, or because the image hasn't finished loading yet. It reflects the <img> element's alt content attribute.

There are important accessibility implications of providing appropriate alt text, and the requirements may differ based on the purpose of the image. See the HTML <img> reference for more information.

In this article

• Value
• Examples
• Specifications
• Browser compatibility

Value

A string.

Examples

Setting the alt attribute

jsconst img = new Image(); img.src = "example.png"; img.alt = "An example picture";

Specifications

Specification
HTML# dom-img-alt

Browser compatibility

Help improve MDN

Was this page helpful to you? Yes No Learn how to contribute

This page was last modified on Nov 7, 2025 by MDN contributors.

View this page on GitHub • Report a problem with this content Filter sidebar

1. The HTML DOM API
2. HTMLImageElement
3. Constructor
   1. Image()
4. Instance properties
   1. align Deprecated
   2. alt
   3. attributionSrc Deprecated
   4. border Deprecated
   5. complete
   6. crossOrigin
   7. currentSrc
   8. decoding
   9. fetchPriority
   10. height
   11. hspace Deprecated
   12. isMap
   13. loading
   14. longDesc Deprecated
   15. name Deprecated
   16. naturalHeight
   17. naturalWidth
   18. referrerPolicy
   19. sizes
   20. src
   21. srcset
   22. useMap
   23. vspace Deprecated
   24. width
   25. x
   26. y
5. Instance methods
   1. decode()
6. Inheritance
   1. HTMLElement
   2. Element
   3. Node
   4. EventTarget
7. Related pages for HTML DOM
   1. BeforeUnloadEvent
   2. DOMStringMap
   3. ErrorEvent
   4. HTMLAnchorElement
   5. HTMLAreaElement
   6. HTMLAudioElement
   7. HTMLBRElement
   8. HTMLBaseElement
   9. HTMLBodyElement
   10. HTMLButtonElement
   11. HTMLCanvasElement
   12. HTMLDListElement
   13. HTMLDataElement
   14. HTMLDataListElement
   15. HTMLDialogElement
   16. HTMLDivElement
   17. HTMLDocument
   18. HTMLElement
   19. HTMLEmbedElement
   20. HTMLFieldSetElement
   21. HTMLFormControlsCollection
   22. HTMLFormElement
   23. HTMLFrameSetElement Deprecated
   24. HTMLGeolocationElement Experimental
   25. HTMLHRElement
   26. HTMLHeadElement
   27. HTMLHeadingElement
   28. HTMLHtmlElement
   29. HTMLIFrameElement
   30. HTMLInputElement
   31. HTMLLIElement
   32. HTMLLabelElement
   33. HTMLLegendElement
   34. HTMLLinkElement
   35. HTMLMapElement
   36. HTMLMediaElement
   37. HTMLMenuElement
   38. HTMLMetaElement
   39. HTMLMeterElement
   40. HTMLModElement
   41. HTMLOListElement
   42. HTMLObjectElement
   43. HTMLOptGroupElement
   44. HTMLOptionElement
   45. HTMLOptionsCollection
   46. HTMLOutputElement
   47. HTMLParagraphElement
   48. HTMLPictureElement
   49. HTMLPreElement
   50. HTMLProgressElement
   51. HTMLQuoteElement
   52. HTMLScriptElement
   53. HTMLSelectElement
   54. HTMLSourceElement
   55. HTMLSpanElement
   56. HTMLStyleElement
   57. HTMLTableCaptionElement
   58. HTMLTableCellElement
   59. HTMLTableColElement
   60. HTMLTableElement
   61. HTMLTableRowElement
   62. HTMLTableSectionElement
   63. HTMLTemplateElement
   64. HTMLTextAreaElement
   65. HTMLTimeElement
   66. HTMLTitleElement
   67. HTMLTrackElement
   68. HTMLUListElement
   69. HTMLUnknownElement
   70. HTMLVideoElement
   71. HashChangeEvent
   72. History
   73. ImageData
   74. Location
   75. MessageChannel
   76. MessageEvent
   77. MessagePort
   78. Navigator
   79. PageRevealEvent
   80. PageSwapEvent
   81. PageTransitionEvent
   82. Plugin Deprecated
   83. PluginArray Deprecated
   84. PromiseRejectionEvent
   85. RadioNodeList
   86. TimeRanges
   87. UserActivation
   88. ValidityState
   89. Window
   90. WorkletGlobalScope
8. Guides
   1. Using microtasks in JavaScript with queueMicrotask()
   2. In depth: Microtasks and the JavaScript runtime environment