Videos (Captioning & Audio)

When incorporating videos, it is important to recognize that there will be users who may not be able to access all aspects of the video, such as audio. We must implement accessibility measures to ensure that people of all abilities can fully understand and engage with the video.

Captions, otherwise known as subtitles, provide content to people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. Captions are a text version of speech and non-speech audio information needed to understand the content. They are displayed within the media player and synchronized with the audio. Captions can either be closed, meaning that the user can choose whether to show or hide the captions, or open, which are always displayed and cannot be turned off.

Live videos also require captions, which are usually done by professional real-time captioners or Communication Access Realtime translation (CART) providers. Live captions can be done in-person or remotely. If a recording of the live video is posted, the captions should be reviewed and edited to maintain accuracy.

Many video-sharing platforms offer the capability to automatically generate captions. However, these captions usually require extensive review and editing to maintain accuracy. Automatic captions can be used as a starting point for developing accurate captions and transcripts.