Making your WordPress media library accessible (BFSG)
Every meaningful image needs alt text, decorative images need a deliberately empty one. A step-by-step guide to cleaning up a grown media library retroactively.
Germany’s Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) has applied since 28 June 2025. For many websites that means, in concrete terms: all meaningful images need a meaningful alt text, and decorative images need a deliberately empty one. If you did not do this from the start, you face a grown media library with hundreds of images without a description. This guide works through the cleanup step by step.
Step 1: survey the stock
Get an overview of how many images in the media library have no alt text. The list view of the media library gives a rough estimate; an accessibility checker that crawls the pages and reports missing alt attributes is more precise.
Step 2: decorative or meaningful
Not every image needs a description. An abstract background pattern, a purely ornamental line: decorative, empty alt text so the screen reader skips it. A product photo, a chart, a photo that makes a point: meaningful, needs an alt text. This classification cannot be automated – it is an editorial decision.
Step 3: add the alt text
For a manageable number of images this can be done by hand in the media library. For several hundred images it is not feasible in everyday editorial work – here an AI-assisted first pass helps: the tool generates a suggestion, you review and correct it. What matters is that the description fits the context of the page and contains no filler.
Step 4: secure new uploads
So the problem does not grow back, every new upload should get an alt text right away – generated automatically and reviewed before publication.
Where IMG Performer fits in
The Pro version of IMG Performer generates alt text on upload using AI through your own API key and can go through the existing media stock retroactively. The suggestions land in the regular alt-text field of the media library, where you review and adjust them. Background: GDPR-compliant image optimization with AI alt text.
Disclaimer
Legal note: general context, not legal advice. The binding sources are the original text of the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) and the guidance of the responsible authorities. As of September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Does the BFSG apply to my website at all?
It mainly affects companies that offer products or services to consumers via a website. Micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 employees and at most EUR 2 million in annual turnover are exempt for services. Regardless of that, accessible images make a better website.
Is it enough if the new images have alt text?
The existing stock stays visible – in old posts, in the archive, in search. For a compliant website it has to be worked through as well.
Can I leave the decorative/meaningful classification to the AI?
Only to a limited extent. The AI can describe what is in the image; whether an image carries information in the context of the page or only decorates it is an editorial decision.