What is the accessibility score and how is it calculated?

The 0-100 score reflects the percentage of testable checks that passed. Info-level checks are excluded from scoring. A score of 80 or above indicates a mostly accessible document; below 50 indicates significant barriers for users of assistive technologies.

PDF Accessibility Checker

Upload any PDF to check it against WCAG 2.1 and PDF/UA-1 accessibility criteria. Get an instant accessibility score, per-check results with WCAG references, and plain-language guidance on what to fix.

Drop your PDF here

or click to browse

Upload any PDF to check its accessibility against WCAG 2.1 and PDF/UA-1 criteria.

PDF files only

Upload a PDF and click Check Accessibility to see a detailed report here.

Why Use Our PDF Accessibility Checker?

12 Accessibility Checks in One Pass

The pdf accessibility checker audits document tags, language, fonts, text extractability, bookmarks, form tooltips, tab order, and more in a single click.

WCAG 2.1 & PDF/UA-1 Criteria

Every check maps to a specific WCAG success criterion or PDF/UA-1 clause, so you know exactly which standard each issue relates to and how to fix it.

Accessibility Score at a Glance

Get an instant 0-100 accessibility score alongside pass, warn, fail, and info counts. Filter results by category to focus on the issues that matter most.

100% Private - No Server Upload

Your PDF never leaves your device. The pdf accessibility checker runs entirely in your browser using pdf-lib - completely free with no signup required.

Common Use Cases for PDF Accessibility Checker

Government & Public Sector Compliance

Verify that public-facing PDFs meet Section 508 and PDF/UA-1 requirements before publishing on government portals and websites.

Legal & Regulatory Documents

Check contracts, policy documents, and filings for accessibility before distribution to ensure all users - including those with disabilities - can access the content.

Education & E-Learning Materials

Audit course PDFs, syllabi, and handouts for accessibility compliance to meet ADA and institutional accessibility policies before distributing to students.

Pre-Publication Quality Gate

Use the pdf accessibility checker as a final review step before publishing reports, white papers, or annual documents to catch tagging and language issues early.

Corporate Accessibility Audits

Identify which PDFs in your document library need remediation by running batch accessibility checks and prioritizing fixes based on fail counts and scores.

Website PDF Compliance

Check PDFs linked from public websites to ensure WCAG 2.1 compliance. Inaccessible PDFs can expose organizations to accessibility lawsuits and complaints.

Understanding PDF Accessibility

What is PDF Accessibility?

PDF accessibility means ensuring that people using assistive technologies - screen readers, refreshable Braille displays, voice control software - can perceive, navigate, and interact with a PDF document. The two key standards are WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by W3C) and PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289-1, Universal Accessibility). Together they cover tagging, reading order, language, font embedding, color contrast, form labels, and navigation. Our pdf accessibility checker tests the structural properties that can be analyzed from the PDF file itself.

How Our PDF Accessibility Checker Works

Upload your PDF - the file is parsed entirely in your browser. No data is sent to any server during the pdf accessibility check.
Automated analysis- the checker inspects 12 criteria across six categories: Document Structure, Metadata, Fonts & Text, Navigation, Forms, and Security. Each check returns a PASS, WARN, FAIL, or INFO result with a plain-language explanation and the relevant WCAG criterion or PDF/UA-1 clause.
Review your score and results - an overall 0-100 accessibility score summarises the findings. Use the category filter tabs to focus on specific areas, then remediate issues and re-check.

What Gets Checked

Tagged PDF & Structure Tree - logical tagging required by screen readers to interpret headings, paragraphs, lists, and tables
Document Language - the Lang entry that tells assistive technologies which voice or pronunciation rules to apply
Font Embedding & Text Extractability - ensures fonts are embedded so text renders correctly and can be extracted by assistive tools
Bookmarks, Tab Order & Navigation - structural navigation aids that help keyboard and screen reader users move through long documents
Form Field Tooltips - TU (tooltip/user-facing label) entries on AcroForm fields that screen readers announce when a user focuses on the field
Encryption & JavaScript - settings that can block assistive technology content extraction or create unpredictable behavior for keyboard users

Privacy, Accuracy & Limitations

The pdf accessibility checker runs 100% client-side in your browser - your PDF is never uploaded to any server. All structural analysis is performed locally using pdf-lib. The tool is completely free with no account or file size restrictions.

Important: This checker performs automated structural analysis and cannot cover every accessibility criterion. Checks such as color contrast, alt text content quality, reading order correctness, and table header associations require human review with assistive technology. For full WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance, combine this tool with manual testing using screen readers such as NVDA, JAWS, or VoiceOver.

Related Tools

JPG to PDF

Convert JPG images to PDF instantly - Free online JPG to PDF converter

PNG to PDF

Convert PNG images to PDF instantly - Free online PNG to PDF converter

SVG to PDF

Convert SVG vector graphics to PDF - Free online SVG to PDF converter

BMP to PDF

Convert BMP bitmap images to PDF instantly - Free online BMP to PDF converter

Frequently Asked Questions About PDF Accessibility Checker

The checker audits against WCAG 2.1 success criteria and PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289-1) requirements. Each check result includes the relevant WCAG criterion or PDF/UA clause so you know exactly which standard applies.

The 0-100 score reflects the percentage of testable checks that passed. Info-level checks are excluded from scoring since they are informational. A score of 80 or above indicates a mostly accessible document; below 50 indicates significant barriers for users of assistive technologies.

No. All analysis runs entirely in your browser using pdf-lib. Your PDF never leaves your device - nothing is sent to any server at any point during the check.

Tagging adds a logical structure tree to the PDF that maps document elements (headings, paragraphs, lists, tables) to their semantic roles. Screen readers use this tree to announce content in the correct order and context. Untagged PDFs are essentially invisible to screen readers.

The tool checks whether the document structure is tagged, which is the prerequisite for alt text. Verifying the actual quality and presence of individual image alt text values requires manual inspection with a screen reader or a specialist PDF accessibility tool.

A fail on text extractability usually means the document is a scanned image without an embedded text layer. Run the PDF through an OCR tool (such as the PDF OCR tool on this site) to add a searchable text layer, then re-check.

No. Automated structural checks cover roughly 30-40% of WCAG criteria. A high score is a strong starting point, but full WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance requires manual testing with assistive technologies such as NVDA, JAWS, or VoiceOver to verify color contrast, reading order, and content comprehension.

Yes. The pdf accessibility checker is completely free with no account required, no file size limits, and no restrictions on the number of checks you run.