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Screen reader

Software that reads what is on the screen aloud or sends it to a braille display.

Also called
screen readers

A screen reader is software that reads a page aloud or sends it to a braille display. People who are blind or have low vision use one to hear a page or read it by touch. The screen reader does not look at the screen. It reads the accessibility tree the browser builds, so it announces an image by its alt text, a button by its accessible name, and a form field by its label.

That is why a missing label leaves a screen reader saying only “edit text,” and why an icon-only button with no name is announced as “button.” Common screen readers include JAWS and NVDA on Windows, VoiceOver on Apple devices, and TalkBack on Android. Trying a page with one shows you what structure and labels do.

Source

Introduction to Web Accessibility

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), 2026. Checked .

Assistive technology
Hardware or software a person uses to do what a standard setup makes hard, such as a screen reader or a switch.
Accessibility tree
The structure a browser builds from a page that screen readers and AI agents read to understand it.
Alt text
The written description of an image that a screen reader reads aloud and a search engine indexes.
Accessible name
The name a control is announced by, taken from its label, its text, or its alt text.

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