Scaling Accessible Mathematics on arXiv: HTML Conversion and MathML 4
This work improves accessibility and usability of mathematical research papers on arXiv for readers with disabilities and the broader community, but progress is incremental.
arXiv's HTML Papers project improved HTML fidelity (75% error-free, targeting 90%), added MathML 4 Intent annotations for accessibility, and began a Rust port of LaTeXML to reduce compute costs. Roughly half of 6,000 user reports were resolved.
We report on the ongoing development of arXiv's HTML Papers offering, available on every new TeX/LaTeX submission since its initial release in 2023. The main highlights from 2025 and early 2026 are: (i) community-driven improvements to HTML fidelity and service health, with roughly half of 6,000 user reports resolved; (ii) corpus-scale conversion work aimed at 90% error-free HTML (currently 75%); (iii) initial MathML 4 Intent annotations for accessible speech output; (iv) an in-progress Rust port of LaTeXML, reducing compute costs and enabling faster previews on submission. The arXiv HTML Papers project remains experimental, but is gradually maturing as we better understand the needs of arXiv's readers and the technical opportunities presented by new standards and by advances in programming languages and AI.