Video and Audio Content

Video and audio content can help make web pages, social media, and course curricula more engaging. However, they can also create barriers unless delivered with accessibility in mind. When delivering audio or video content on university websites, social media, or other online means, the following accessibility requirements apply.

Captions

Captions are a text version of the spoken audio, plus a description of important sounds, synchronized with the video. Typically users can toggle captions on or off using a CC button on their media player. Captions must be available in order to ensure audio content is accessible to people from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.

Under WCAG standards, all online video and audio content must include captions for audio content. This includes both prerecorded and live video content. Among other things, captions must:

Identify the speaker: If multiple speakers are featured in a video, the identity of the current speaker should be identified in brackets. For example: “[Dr. Smith] The next slide will show you some more detailed information about the project.”
Synchronize with corresponding audio: Downloadable transcripts are not an acceptable substitute for captions of video content, although they are acceptable for audio-only content. For videos, the relevant dialogue and other captions must appear as they happen.
Describe substantively important music or sound effects: When information other than dialogue is important to the message of a video, it must be described in a caption. For example, “loud cheering” normally would be substantively important to a video of a basketball player making a shot, but “footsteps on the court” normally would not.

Automatically generated captions are an acceptable starting point, but web and social media content creators are responsible for ensuring that captions are accurate, which normally will require review and editing. For prerecorded audio-only content, a transcript is an acceptable substitute for captions.

In addition to accessibility, captions have other benefits. For instance, they can help people for whom English is a second language, people who are unfamiliar with the vocabulary used in the video, and people in noisy environments who are unable to hear the sound from their devices. Also, in supporting media players, captions make it possible for users to search the video, and can be repurposed as an interactive transcript so users can jump directly to particular points in the video from the transcript text.

Audio Description

Audio description is a separate narration track that provides access to any important information that is otherwise presented only visually. This allows people who are unable to see the video due to blindness or low vision to understand its contents more fully.

All prerecorded online video content must be capable of being played with audio descriptions of on-screen images, actions, and text that are important to understanding the substantive content but not described in the dialogue or native audio of the video.

Where the dialogue or native audio track of a video describes important on-screen images, no separate audio description is required. Thus, for many videos, the best approach is to plan the contents in advance to include relevant descriptions in the dialogue or voiceover.

Example: If a video of a classroom exercise includes a graph not described by the speaker, an audio description of the graph would be required. However, if the speaker were to describe the graph, no separate audio description would be required.

Where visual information is not substantively important, such as a generic background image or a description of a speaker’s appearance, no audio description is required. In determining what visual information is substantively important, creators should carefully consider context.

Example: While a description of the speaker’s dress likely would not be important for an academic lecture, it likely would be important for a presentation on professional attire for job interviews.

Example: While a description of the classroom likely is not important for a recording of an academic lecture, descriptions of physical locations likely would be important for a video tour of a facility aimed at prospective students.

Where descriptions of images are not included in the original audio, audio descriptions can be added during natural pauses or by adding pauses to the video to provide sufficient time. If this would disrupt viewing for those who do not need descriptions, it is acceptable to provide an alternate version of a video with audio descriptions via a clearly labeled link.

Example: Where a short student recruiting video displays various locations and activities in quick succession to give an overall impression of the campus, inserting descriptions could disrupt viewing significantly for those not needing them. In this case, it would be acceptable to provide a clearly labeled link, close to the original video, to a separate version with audio descriptions.

Transcripts

Transcripts are text versions of audio or video content that are not synchronized with that content. Under WCAG standards, use of transcripts alone is not an acceptable substitute for captions for video content, but is acceptable for making audio-only recordings accessible.

Including transcripts in addition to video captions, while not required, offers additional accessibility options, such as assisting people using a Braille device; as well as people with slow Internet connections or other technical issues that prevent media from playing. Also, transcripts can be quickly searched or scanned, providing a more efficient means for busy people to access the video’s content.

Accessible media players

Accessible media players are those that support accessibility features such as captions and audio descriptions. Using an accessible media player can help ensure that content meets other requirements such as keyboard navigability.

Embedding video into web pages with code provided by YouTube, Vimeo, or Canvas generally results in an accessible user experience. Media players designed specifically for accessibility may offer even better experiences for disabled individuals, and are discussed in more detail on Accessible HTML5 Media Players & Resources.