Kozea/WeasyPrint

SVG: Unable to specify an alt text for screen readers

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#2,816 opened on Jun 29, 2026

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Description

Hello,

I have an SVG image embedded in my HTML file. I want to provide an alt text so that screen readers will provide a description of the image when reading the PDF out loud.

I have provided the tag in my SVG structure:

<svg xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" width="288pt" height="288pt" viewBox="0 0 288 288" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"><title>Tracé du parcours de la ligne 21.</title>...

and as you can see, it's being picked up by the browser:

However, in the PDF file created by Weasyprint, I don't see any title associated with the SVG file. Nothing is being read by the screen reader.

What is the best way to provide an alt text for svg images?

Here are the HTML and PDF files: SO21-20260106_21001231 (12).html SO21-20260106_21001231 (26).pdf

Thanks

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate how WeasyPrint handles SVG <title> elements for accessibility (PDF tags). The expected behavior is that the <title> content should be mapped to the PDF's Alt entry for the image. Check the SVG rendering code path and PDF tagging logic to see where the title is lost or not processed.
Tech stack
python
Domain
accessibility
Issue type
Bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
PythonHTMLCSS
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
50