WAI-ARIA: aria-label (Property)

Description

Defines a string value that labels the current element. See related aria-labelledby.

The purpose of aria-label is the same as that of aria-labelledby. It provides the user with a recognizable name of the object. The most common accessibility API mapping for a label is the accessible name property.

If the label text is visible on screen, authors SHOULD use aria-labelledby and SHOULD NOT use aria-label. There may be instances where the name of an element cannot be determined programmatically from the content of the element, and there are cases where providing a visible label is not the desired user experience. Most host languages provide an attribute that could be used to name the element (e.g., the title attribute in HTML), yet this could present a browser tooltip. In the cases where a visible label or visible tooltip is undesirable, authors MAY set the accessible name of the element using aria-label. As required by the text alternative computation, user agents give precedence to aria-labelledby over aria-label when computing the accessible name property.

Browser Compatibility For aria-label

	desktop						mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	WebView Android	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
ariaLabel	ChromeFull support81	EdgeFull support81	FirefoxNo supportNo	Internet ExplorerNo supportNo	OperaFull support68	SafariFull support12.1	WebView AndroidFull support81	Chrome AndroidFull support81	Firefox for AndroidNo supportNo	Opera AndroidFull support58	Safari on iOSFull support12.2	Samsung InternetFull support13.0

Screen Reader Support For aria-label

Expectation	JAWS			Narrator	NVDA			Orca	TalkBack	VoiceOver (iOS)	VoiceOver (macOS)
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Edge	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	Safari
MUST contribute to the accessible name	supported	supported	supported	partial (1/2)	supported	supported	supported	supported	supported	supported	supported
SHOULD convey name changes when in focus	none	none	none	supported	supported	supported	supported	none	none	supported	partial

Example

HTML Example 1

Characteristics

Related Concepts

HTML title
Used in Roles

All elements of the base markup
Value

string
Unconstrained value type.

Semantic HTML

No HTML element equivalent.

Reference

• W3C (opens new window)
• A11Y Support
• MDN Web Docs