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Image Description

The Image type is defined in ActivityStreams Vocabulary.

In this support table, we only consider how the image description, commonly called AltText is handled. Image descriptions are important from an accessibility standpoint, see WCAG 2.2. Text Alternatives.

It seems that certain implementations, e.g. misskey, store the image description on a per image URL basis and not for every instance of an image reference.

Examples

Example 1

activity
{
  "@context": [
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
    {
      "Hashtag": "as:Hashtag",
      "sensitive": "as:sensitive"
    }
  ],
  "type": "Create",
  "actor": "http://pasture-one-actor/actor",
  "to": [
    "http://pyfedi.local/c/pie",
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"
  ],
  "id": "http://pasture-one-actor/activity/u6Q_UMMwD-U",
  "published": "2025-09-08T17:29:30Z",
  "object": {
    "type": "Note",
    "attributedTo": "http://pasture-one-actor/actor",
    "to": [
      "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public",
      "http://pyfedi.local/c/pie"
    ],
    "id": "http://pasture-one-actor/object/vVhn0pDHRI4",
    "published": "2025-09-08T17:29:30Z",
    "content": "no description",
    "attachment": {
      "type": "Document",
      "url": "http://pasture-one-actor/images/100.png"
    },
    "tag": [
      {
        "type": "Mention",
        "href": "http://pyfedi.local/c/pie"
      }
    ]
  }
}
pyfedi
{
  "id": 64,
  "user_id": 2,
  "community_id": 1,
  "title": "[Microblog] no description",
  "deleted": false,
  "nsfw": false,
  "sticky": false,
  "published": "2025-09-08T17:29:30.818743Z",
  "ap_id": "http://pasture-one-actor/object/vVhn0pDHRI4",
  "local": false,
  "language_id": 2,
  "removed": false,
  "locked": false,
  "body": "no description",
  "url": "http://pasture-one-actor/images/100.png",
  "thumbnail_url": "http://pasture-one-actor/images/100.png",
  "small_thumbnail_url": "http://pasture-one-actor/images/100.png"
}

Example 2

activity
{
  "@context": [
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
    {
      "Hashtag": "as:Hashtag",
      "sensitive": "as:sensitive"
    }
  ],
  "type": "Create",
  "actor": "http://pasture-one-actor/actor",
  "to": [
    "http://pyfedi.local/c/pie",
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"
  ],
  "id": "http://pasture-one-actor/activity/OhJXmnBx6Pw",
  "published": "2025-09-08T17:29:31Z",
  "object": {
    "type": "Note",
    "attributedTo": "http://pasture-one-actor/actor",
    "to": [
      "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public",
      "http://pyfedi.local/c/pie"
    ],
    "id": "http://pasture-one-actor/object/gK3jazdBWB0",
    "published": "2025-09-08T17:29:31Z",
    "content": "text",
    "attachment": {
      "type": "Document",
      "url": "http://pasture-one-actor/images/100.png",
      "name": "name",
      "summary": "summary",
      "content": "content"
    },
    "tag": [
      {
        "type": "Mention",
        "href": "http://pyfedi.local/c/pie"
      }
    ]
  }
}
pyfedi
{
  "id": 65,
  "user_id": 2,
  "community_id": 1,
  "title": "(content in post body)",
  "deleted": false,
  "nsfw": false,
  "sticky": false,
  "published": "2025-09-08T17:29:31.540408Z",
  "ap_id": "http://pasture-one-actor/object/gK3jazdBWB0",
  "local": false,
  "language_id": 2,
  "removed": false,
  "locked": false,
  "body": "text",
  "url": "http://pasture-one-actor/images/100.png",
  "thumbnail_url": "http://pasture-one-actor/images/100.png",
  "small_thumbnail_url": "http://pasture-one-actor/images/100.png"
}

Example 3

activity
{
  "@context": [
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
    {
      "Hashtag": "as:Hashtag",
      "sensitive": "as:sensitive"
    }
  ],
  "type": "Create",
  "actor": "http://pasture-one-actor/actor",
  "to": [
    "http://pyfedi.local/c/pie",
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"
  ],
  "id": "http://pasture-one-actor/activity/G-UmyTfgKe8",
  "published": "2025-09-08T17:29:32Z",
  "object": {
    "type": "Note",
    "attributedTo": "http://pasture-one-actor/actor",
    "to": [
      "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public",
      "http://pyfedi.local/c/pie"
    ],
    "id": "http://pasture-one-actor/object/4eUbbXC5Ul4",
    "published": "2025-09-08T17:29:32Z",
    "content": "text",
    "attachment": [
      {
        "type": "Document",
        "url": "http://pasture-one-actor/assets/FediverseLogo.png",
        "name": "name",
        "imageType": "image/jpeg"
      }
    ],
    "tag": [
      {
        "type": "Mention",
        "href": "http://pyfedi.local/c/pie"
      }
    ]
  }
}
pyfedi
{
  "id": 66,
  "user_id": 2,
  "community_id": 1,
  "title": "(content in post body)",
  "deleted": false,
  "nsfw": false,
  "sticky": false,
  "published": "2025-09-08T17:29:32.325097Z",
  "ap_id": "http://pasture-one-actor/object/4eUbbXC5Ul4",
  "local": false,
  "language_id": 2,
  "removed": false,
  "locked": false,
  "body": "text",
  "url": "http://pasture-one-actor/assets/FediverseLogo.png",
  "thumbnail_url": "http://pasture-one-actor/assets/FediverseLogo.png",
  "small_thumbnail_url": "http://pasture-one-actor/assets/FediverseLogo.png",
  "alt_text": "name"
}

Example 4

activity
{
  "@context": [
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
    {
      "Hashtag": "as:Hashtag",
      "sensitive": "as:sensitive"
    }
  ],
  "type": "Create",
  "actor": "http://pasture-one-actor/actor",
  "to": [
    "http://pyfedi.local/c/pie",
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"
  ],
  "id": "http://pasture-one-actor/activity/-fu0W4VvcOg",
  "published": "2025-09-08T17:29:32Z",
  "object": {
    "type": "Note",
    "attributedTo": "http://pasture-one-actor/actor",
    "to": [
      "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public",
      "http://pyfedi.local/c/pie"
    ],
    "id": "http://pasture-one-actor/object/wh1TQSrqzbA",
    "published": "2025-09-08T17:29:32Z",
    "content": "no comment in attachment",
    "attachment": [
      {
        "type": "Document",
        "url": "http://pasture-one-actor/assets/FediverseLogo.png"
      }
    ],
    "tag": [
      {
        "type": "Mention",
        "href": "http://pyfedi.local/c/pie"
      }
    ]
  }
}
pyfedi
{
  "id": 67,
  "user_id": 2,
  "community_id": 1,
  "title": "no comment in attachment",
  "deleted": false,
  "nsfw": false,
  "sticky": false,
  "published": "2025-09-08T17:29:33.140005Z",
  "ap_id": "http://pasture-one-actor/object/wh1TQSrqzbA",
  "local": false,
  "language_id": 2,
  "removed": false,
  "locked": false,
  "body": "no comment in attachment",
  "url": "http://pasture-one-actor/assets/FediverseLogo.png",
  "thumbnail_url": "http://pasture-one-actor/assets/FediverseLogo.png",
  "small_thumbnail_url": "http://pasture-one-actor/assets/FediverseLogo.png"
}