Guidelines for Accessible Audio and Video
W3C Worldwide Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1), Level AA for audio and video included within websites are the basis for universal accessibility standards. The same principles can be applied to audio and video utilized and distributed for instructional purposes as well.
Although Texas Administrative Code refereces adherance to WCAG 2.0 standards, the federal government holds our institution to WCAG 2.1 standards based on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. It protects individuals with disabilities in educational settings from discrimination based on their disability status.
The numbers which follow reference specific WCAG 2.1 success criteria for accessible audio and video.
Providing alternatives for time-based media
1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded): For prerecorded audio-only and prerecorded video-only media, the following are true, except when the audio or video is a media alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such:
- Prerecorded Audio-only: An alternative for time-based media is provided that presents equivalent information for prerecorded audio-only content.
- Prerecorded Video-only: Either an alternative for time-based media or an audio track is provided that presents equivalent information for prerecorded video-only content.
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.
1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded): An alternative for time-based media or audio description of the prerecorded video content is provided for synchronized media, except when the media is a media alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such.
1.2.4 Captions (Live): Captions are provided for all live audio content in synchronized media.
1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded): Audio description is provided for all prerecorded video content in synchronized media.
See more information as well as techniques and failures for the listed criteria within Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1), filtered for Level AA.
Did you know?
- In the United States, about 55 million people have a disability (src: 2010 U.S. Census).
- About 1 in 5 Americans have some kind of disability (src: 2010 U.S. Census).
- The percentage of people affected by disabilities is growing as our population ages.
- Two popular, free screen readers are VoiceOver (Mac OS and iOS) and NVDA (Win).
- Good accessibility practices can improve the search ranking of your website.
- Form fields without labels can cause problems for some assistive technology users.
- Low color contrast makes content difficult to see, especially for users with low vision.
- Documents linked on a website need to be accessible too (e.g., PDF and Word files).
- Audio content, like podcasts, need transcripts for deaf or hard of hearing users.
- Online videos should be captioned for deaf or hard of hearing users.
- Using HTML tags correctly is very important for accessibility.
- Descriptive link text helps make a website more accessible. Avoid using "Click here" or "Read more."
- A "screen reader" is an application that reads content aloud to a user.
- There is no "alt tag" in HTML. "Alt" is an attribute used with the img tag.
- HTML uses the alt attribute to provide a text description of an image.
- Alt text should describe an image, if the purpose of the image is to convey information.
- If an image is a link, the alt text for the image should explain where the link goes.
- If an image is only being used for decoration, the alt text should be null (i.e., alt="").
- If a table has headers, using header tags (<th>) will make the table more accessible.
- An accessible website is one that can be navigated and understood by everyone.