Checklist for Captioning Compliance

The following types of videos can be captioned to promote access by everyone:

  • Videos on any of our University websites;
  • Videos used in a classroom setting;
  • Recorded lectures used as reference materials by students; and
  • Additional reference materials presented in class or for assignments (even for extra credit).

See Captioning Videos for instances when captioning is required by law.

Examples in academia

Examples of videos include, but are not limited to:

  • Videos created by instructors
  • Any videos used by guest lecturers
  • Any videos used in student presentations
  • Lecture captures
    • Regular lectures
    • Online workshops
    • Workshops
    • Presentations
  • Videos created by others and used in classes
    • Links to web videos (e.g. YouTube)
    • Films on course reserves
  • Supplemental materials
  • Videos posted on websites
    • Departmental
    • Research groups and labs
    • Class websites
  • Recordings of live streamed events
    • Webinars and workshops
    • Video conferences within a course

Achieving compliance

At Texas A&M University, we strive to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance. If you can answer "yes" to the following questions, your multimedia should be compliant with those guidelines.

  • Can the video player be activated and operated via the keyboard?
  • Does the video only start at the user request (will not start automatically)? If no, can the user stop it?
  • Can the video volume be modified (preferably by keyboard)?
  • Is the video available when Flash and/or style sheets is disabled?
  • If links are in the video, are the links descriptive?
  • Is the video free of flashing content faster than three times per second?
  • Does the video have a text transcript that provides equivalent information to the video?
  • Is the video transcript accessible and located in close proximity to the video?
  • Do captions include all dialogue and audio descriptions that sync with the video?
  • Is the color contrast of the video captions sufficient?

Did you know?