accessibility-guidelines

This document is in beta. Help us by reporting issues via Github or email.

Captions

Does your site show pre-recorded or live videos?
→ Provide captions.

Pre-recorded video content (like instructional videos, ads or interviews), as well as live broadcast video, must have captions that are synchronised with the audio content of the video.

On this page:

Requirements
More info

Requirements

All pre-recorded video content has captions that are synchronised with the audio content of the video;
All live video content has captions that are synchronised with the audio content of the video.
Captions include all the spoken dialogue and important sound effects from the audio part of the video.

Common mistakes

The video does not have synchronised captions;
The video has captions but they do not include all the spoken dialogue and important sound effects from the audio content of the video;
The video has captions but they are not synchronised with the audio content of the video.

Why?

This ensures that the information communicated by the audio part of the video is available to people who can’t hear it.

Official wording in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded): Captions are provided for all prerecorded audio content in synchronized media, except when the media is a media alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such. (Level A)

1.2.4 Captions (Live): Captions are provided for all live audio content in synchronized media. (Level AA)

See the W3C’s detailed explanation of this guideline with techniques and examples.

More info

Sources

Useful resources

What are captions? on the Nomensa blog
Sounding out the web: accessibility for Deaf and hard of hearing people (Part 2) by The Paciello Group

Contribute