Alt Text API - Programmatically Generate Alternative Text for Accessibility

API Endpoint Access URL

https://api.pixlab.io/altext

Description

The Alt Text API endpoint allows developers to programmatically generate descriptive alternative text (alt text) for images, improving web accessibility and SEO. By analyzing visual features, it crafts human-like descriptions that ensure compliance with WCAG standards, enhances screen-reader usability, and boosts search engine discoverability.

HTTP Methods

GET, POST

HTTP Parameters

Required

Fields	Type	Description
`img`	URL	URL of the input image for alternative text generation in the event of a `GET` request. If you want to upload an image directly from your app, then submit a `multipart/form-data` POST request instead. Refer to the POST Request Data section below.
`key`	String	Your PixLab API Key ↗. You can also embed your key in the `WWW-Authenticate:` HTTP header and omit this parameter if you want to.

Optional

Fields	Type	Description
`lang`	String	Default to `english`. Language for which you want to generate the alternative text description.
`short`	Boolean	If this optional parameter is set to `true`, then generate a quick and brief alternative text instead of a full accurate text description. Default to `false`.

POST Request Body

This section details the requirements for using a POST request instead of a simple GET request.

Allowed Content-Types:

multipart/form-data
application/json

Use multipart/form-data to directly upload your image from you app (Refer to The PixLab Github Repository↗ for a working example). If you're using JSON, the media file must already be uploaded. Consider calling store to upload an image before invoking this endpoint.

HTTP Response

application/json

This endpoint always returns a JSON object containing image description data. Response fields include:

Fields	Type	Description
`status`	Integer	HTTP 200 indicates success. Any other code indicates failure.
`text`	String	AI generated alternative text optimized for image accessibility in the selected language (defaults to English).
`error`	String	Error description when `status` != 200.

Code Samples



import requests
import json

# Generate alternative text (alt text) optimized for accessibility 

# Target Image: Change to any link or switch to POST if you want to upload your image directly, refer to the REST API code samples for more info.
img = 'https://pixlab.io/assets/images/nature31.jpg' 

key = 'PIXLAB_API_KEY' # Get your API key from https://console.pixlab.io/

req = requests.get('https://api.pixlab.io/altext',params={
  'img':img,
  'key':key,
  'lang':'english',
  'short':False
})
reply = req.json()
if reply['status'] != 200:
	print (reply['error'])
else:
  text = reply['text']
  print(f"Alternative text optimized for accessibility : {text}")


// Generate alternative text optimized for accessibility 

// Target Image: Change to any link or switch to POST if you want to upload your image directly, refer to the REST API code samples for more info.
const img = 'https://pixlab.io/assets/images/nature31.jpg';

const key = 'PIXLAB_API_KEY'; // Get your API key from https://console.pixlab.io/

fetch('https://api.pixlab.io/altext', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    img: img,
    key: key,
    lang: 'english',
    short: false
  })
})
  .then(response => response.json())
  .then(reply => {
    if (reply.status !== 200) {
      console.log(reply.error);
    } else {
      const text = reply.text;
      console.log(`Alternative text optimized for accessibility: ${text}`);
    }
  })
  .catch(error => console.error('Error:', error));

<?php
# Generate alternative text optimized for accessibility 

# Target Image: Change to any link or switch to POST if you want to upload your image directly, refer to the REST API code samples for more info.
$img = 'https://pixlab.io/assets/images/nature31.jpg';

$key = 'PIXLAB_API_KEY'; // Get your API key from https://console.pixlab.io/

$ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://api.pixlab.io/altext?img=' . urlencode($img) . '&key=' . $key . '&lang=english&short=false');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

$reply = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
curl_close($ch);

if ($reply['status'] != 200) {
    echo $reply['error'];
} else {
    $text = $reply['text'];
    echo "Alternative text optimized for accessibility: " . $text;
}


require 'net/http'
require 'json'

# Generate alternative text optimized for accessibility 

# Target Image: Change to any link or switch to POST if you want to upload your image directly, refer to the REST API code samples for more info.
img = 'https://pixlab.io/assets/images/nature31.jpg'

key = 'PIXLAB_API_KEY' # Get your API key from https://console.pixlab.io/

uri = URI('https://api.pixlab.io/describe')
params = {
  'img' => img,
  'key' => key,
  'lang' => 'english',
  'short' => false
}

uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)
response = Net::HTTP.get_response(uri)
reply = JSON.parse(response.body)

if reply['status'] != 200
  puts reply['error']
else
  text = reply['text']
  puts "Alternative text optimized for accessibility : #{text}"
end

Similar API Endpoints

tagimg, seotag, img-embed, docscan, chat, text-embed, crop, mogrify, facelookup ↗, faceverify ↗, query

Alt Text API Endpoint