Accessible media is essential for many people. When you create a video, consider that some viewers may be unable to see what is shown in the frame while others may be unable to hear the audio. Still others may have difficulty attending to the primary information being presented. Depending on the content of the media, making the presentation accessible can mean adding captions, audio description or providing a transcript.

Video captions and audio transcripts

Video captions and audio transcripts provide access to people who:

  • Are deaf or hard of hearing.
  • Are learning another language, or whose native language does not match the audio content (i.e., international students).
  • Have learning disabilities or other cognitive impairments.
  • Learn by taking in information in multiple ways.
  • Are in quiet environments where audio output is undesirable (i.e., libraries).
  • Are in noisy environments where audio may be difficult to hear or understand (i.e., student unions).
  • Do not have equipment that supports audio output (such as headphones).
  • Are looking for information contained in a video; search engines can find information in captions and transcripts, but not in a video or audio file.

Audio descriptions

Audio descriptions in videos provide access to people who:

  • Are blind or have low-vision.
  • Are learning another language, or whose native language does not match the audio content (i.e., international students).
  • Have learning disabilities or other cognitive impairments.
  • Learn by taking in information in multiple ways.
  • Are in visually stimulating environment where looking at the video may be undesirable (i.e., while exercising or driving).
     

 

Best Practices

Review, edit, or create captions

Captions are text blocks in a video that display all audio information, including spoken works, sounds, and music. Captions are:

  • Time-coded so two (but sometimes three) lines of text appear at a time, usually at the bottom of the video
  • Either “closed” (able to be turned on or off by the user) or “open” (on all the time)
  • Displayed in the same language as the audio

Subtitles are similar to captions, but they display only spoken content, usually in a language other than the language of the audio, and they can be turned on or off by the user.

Do

  • Review your videos. Do they include captions that adequately match what the speakers are saying? Are changes in who is speaking labelled, if this is not apparent in the audio?
  • Replace videos with inadequate captions with those that are captioned well or correct the captions.

Don't

  • Don't assume that all videos have closed captions.
  • Don't assume that auto-generated captions are "good enough." Auto-generated captions will not approach the over 99% accuracy level needed by people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Further, auto-generated captions will not include important non-speech content that may exist in the audio.
  • Don't assume subtitles can take the place of captions.

Review and/or integrate audio descriptions

Audio descriptions use the audio track to describe what is happening within a video. With some planning, they are relatively easy to include while recording a new video. They can be added to existing videos by recording a narrator's voice in the natural pauses and silences, but this is a newer and expensive method.

Do

Review your videos. Does the audio adequately explain what is happening on screen? If not, replace the videos or add audio descriptions.

Do Example

Play a video that includes an adequate audio description.

Don't

Don't assume that just because you don't know of a person in your audience who is blind, that another person trying to use the content won't have a problem with it.

Don't Example

Play a video that does not include an audio description.

Include transcripts for audio recordings

Transcripts are plain-text versions of the speech or audio in a video or audio recording. Unlike captions, transcripts are not time-coded; they are static documents.

  • Transcripts are not required for videos; however, they can be helpful.
  • Audio recordings require transcripts.

Do

If you are sharing an audio recording, include a transcript. Each line of text should identify who said what.

Don't

Don't share audio recordings  without a transcript. This violates University policy.

Choose accessible playback tools

Do

Choose a playback tool that is both mouse- and keyboard-navigable, and that allows the user to adjust the quality and speed of playback.

Do example

Don't

Don't turn on auto-play. This sets video or audio content to play automatically when a web page loads. Auto-play can be disorienting to people using a screen reader, and annoying to all audiences.

Don't example

  • The Nielsen Norman Group includes the following example of an auto-play video on the Video Usability page.