---
title: "Ship e-books with their accessibility · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/media-documents-and-email/epub-accessibility
id: AXS-70
level: Recommended
updated: 2026-10-27
build: a2a6bdfed830
tokens: 882
licence: "CC BY 4.0"
licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
---

# Ship e-books with their accessibility metadata

For AI agents: the [site map](https://agentwranglers.se/llms.txt) lists everything here, and this page sits under [Media, documents and email](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/media-documents-and-email.md).

By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers.md). Updated 2026-10-27.

- ID: AXS-70
- Level: Recommended
- Chapter: [Media, documents and email](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/media-documents-and-email.md)
- Rule: Publish e-books as EPUB that meets EPUB Accessibility 1.1 at WCAG 2.2 AA. The package file lists its access modes, features and hazards, a summary, a conformance claim and who checked it.
- Check: A build step reads the package file of every EPUB. It finds `accessMode`, `accessibilityFeature`, `accessibilityHazard`, `accessibilitySummary`, a `dcterms:conformsTo` matching "EPUB Accessibility 1.1 - WCAG 2.2 Level AA" and an `a11y:certifiedBy`. A missing one fails the build.
- How: The European Accessibility Act covers e-books sold to consumers, as [Track each service against the Act's dates](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/law-and-statements/accessibility-act-dates.md) lists. EPUB Accessibility 1.1 has been a W3C Recommendation since October 2024. It requires `schema:accessMode`, `schema:accessibilityFeature` and `schema:accessibilityHazard` in the package file, and recommends `schema:accessibilitySummary`. Claim conformance with `dcterms:conformsTo` in the exact form "EPUB Accessibility 1.1 - WCAG 2.2 Level AA". Name the checker with `a11y:certifiedBy`. The chapters inside are HTML, so every web rule in this playbook applies to them. Shops and reading apps show the metadata, so buyers know before they pay.

## Examples

**Using these examples:** they show one way to follow this rule. Keep the behaviour and the check, not the syntax. Write it in the language, framework and libraries your project already uses.

### XML example

```xml
<meta property="schema:accessMode">textual</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessMode">visual</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">structuralNavigation</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">alternativeText</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessibilityHazard">none</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessibilitySummary">All images have descriptions. Headings and a table of contents give structure.</meta>
<meta property="dcterms:conformsTo">EPUB Accessibility 1.1 - WCAG 2.2 Level AA</meta>
<meta property="a11y:certifiedBy">Example Books</meta>
```

## Sources

- [W3C EPUB Accessibility 1.1](https://www.w3.org/TR/epub-a11y-11/)

## Related rules

- AXS-59 [Track each service against the Act's dates](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/law-and-statements/accessibility-act-dates.md) in Accessibility

**For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `<a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/media-documents-and-email/epub-accessibility">Agent Wranglers accessibility playbook</a>`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.

- Previous: [Make the editor help people publish accessible content](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/media-documents-and-email/authoring-checks.md)
- [Media, documents and email](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/media-documents-and-email.md)