Audio and video content
Page contents
If you are creating your own audio and/or video content, we strongly recommend reviewing the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) advice on planning audio and video media. Planning ahead of recording will save both time and money in the long run.
The WAI advice not only covers how to present the content on your website, but also how to structure and deliver the audio and video content itself, and considerations for live audio and video.
Here in this guide we focus on presenting pre-recorded audio/video content on a web page, and what alternatives are needed to help people. It’s worth remembering that accommodations for people with disabilities are often helpful more broadly as well:
- People may want to skim the transcript to decide whether to play a media file, especially if they are trying to save data and/or power on a mobile device.
- Captions can be helpful in really loud environments (e.g. a busy airport) and really quiet environments (e.g. a library).
Companion video: Web Accessibility Perspectives: Video captions
Minimum requirements for WCAG conformance
Pre-recorded audio (e.g. podcasts)
- A basic text transcript of all audio content (both speech and non-speech) is required for WCAG level A
Pre-recorded video
Is there speech or other audio needed to understand the content?
- If yes,
- Captions are required for WCAG level A.
- A transcript of all audio information is required for WCAG level AAA.
- If no,
- Consider providing text before the video to let users know that captions are not needed, e.g. “Captions not needed: this video has is no soundtrack” or “Captions not needed: the only sound in this video is background music”.
Is there visual information (charts, graphs, tables, or on-screen text such as names, titles or email addresses) needed to understand the content?
- If yes,
- An audio description of all on-screen visuals or a descriptive transcript is required for WCAG level A.
- An audio description of the on-screen visuals is required for WCAG level AA.
- If no,
- Consider providing text before the video to let users know that an audio description is not needed, e.g. “Description not needed: the visuals in this video do not provide additional information”.
Companion video: Easy way to create accessible videos with audio
Transcripts
Basic transcripts provide a text version of audio dialogue and any non-speech audio content. Descriptive transcripts also provide a text description of any on-screen visuals in video content. By their nature, transcripts are helpful for everybody. More about transcripts from the Web Accessibility Initiative.
You may choose to pay for a professional transcription service, but if you are keen to do it yourself the Web Accessibility Initiative offers detailed guidance on how to transcribe audio to text.
Place your transcript, or a link to it, directly after the audio/video media
The most accessible format for a transcript is text on a web page. For descriptive transcripts you may choose to format it as a table, with the audio transcribed in one column and the description of key visual details in another column. Here’s a video and descriptive transcript of a conference talk from one of our developers.
Captions
Captions are a text version of both the audio dialogue and any non-speech audio featured in a video. They are synchronised with the audio and usually shown in a media player when users turn them on. Captions are especially helpful for users with hearing impairments and cognitive disabilities. More about captions from the Web Accessibility Initiative.
Review auto-generated captions for accuracy
An easy way to create captions for a video is to upload it to YouTube and use their automatic captioning tool. We strongly recommend downloading and editing the auto-generated captions for accuracy, but they should offer a good starting point. Captions can also give you a head start on writing your own transcript.
Audio description
Audio description describes the visual content of a video, including any on-screen text, for visually impaired users. It is most helpful for visually impaired users. More about audio description from the Web Accessibility Initiative.
Autoplaying media
Imagine being in a quiet zone, visiting a web page and suddenly having sound playing that everybody can hear!
Avoid autoplaying audio/video content
Autoplaying media is disruptive; in the case of video it can be distracting for users, and could even trigger nausea or seizures depending on the content. At the very least, give people a way to stop/pause playback.
Make sure your visitors have control over media playback
Many people find it helpful to revisit sections to ensure they have understood the message.