WeCo Digital Accessibility

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Accessible Multimedia and the WCAG

Summary

Understanding how to make accessible multimedia can seem like a daunting task, but WeCo's Accessibility Team will walk you through the related Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to help you understand what you need to know.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) include many different success criteria regarding digital accessibility. Which ones are specific to making accessible multimedia? In this article, we will take a quick look at WCAG guidance related to accessible multimedia. Specifically, we’ll look at audio and video content.

1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded) (Level A)

Information conveyed through prerecorded audio or prerecorded video without sound must also be available in an A row of 3D stick figures working on orange laptops with matching headsets. By working on a laptop with headphones, they require accessible multimedia.alternative format. Providing the content in multiple formats ensures that the information will be presented in ways that can be understood by all users.

Applies to:

  • Live Video-Only
  • Prerecorded Audio-Only
  • Prerecorded Video-Only (and video-like animations)

1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) (Level A)

Captions include dialog, identification of the speaker(s), and non-speech information conveyed through sound (e.g., meaningful sound effects). Captions allow users who cannot hear the audio content of a video to understand its content.

Applies to:

  • Prerecorded Audio-Only
  • Prerecorded Video-Only (and video-like animations)

1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded) (Level A)

Audio descriptions allow users who cannot see the visual content of a video to understand its content. Descriptive transcripts allow users who cannot see and/or hear a video to understand its content.  In order to create accessible multimedia, at least one of these options must be provided for all prerecorded video content. As a note, if you’re conforming to Level AA, this success criterion is considered a duplicate and is not applicable, as it is covered under 1.2.5.)

Applies to:

  • Prerecorded Multimedia

1.2.4 Captions (Live) (Level AA)

Ensure that a captioning service will be present to provide captioning for all real-time presentations. This will allow attendees who cannot hear the presentation to understand the content.

Applies to:

  • Live Video-Only
  • Live Multimedia

1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded) (Level AA)

An audio description is an audio track that provides information about actions, characters, scene changes, and on-screen text during existing pauses in dialog. As a result, they allow users who cannot see the visual content of a video to understand its content.

Applies to:

  • Prerecorded Video-Only (and video-like animations)

1.4.2 Audio Control (Level A)

Many web sites include audio that plays automatically when users land on the page. However, screen reader users who visit these pages will have difficulty hearing their screen reader’s speech output when other audio is playing at the same time. If you must include this type of content, be sure to provide controls to pause, stop, and start the media or provide controls to control the volume independently from the system volume.

Applies to:

  • Prerecorded Audio-Only
  • Prerecorded Video-Only (and video-like animations)
  • Live Audio-Only
  • Live Video-Only
  • Page Background Sounds

2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (Level A)

Moving images and animations can be highly distracting to users living with cognitive disabilities and can interfere with their ability to receive information. To make more accessible multimedia, give users the ability to stop motion in order to prevent screen reader cursors from moving and losing their place when images move. So, make sure to provide start and stop controls (with labels) for moving images.

Applies to:

  • Prerecorded Audio-Only
  • Prerecorded Video-Only (and video-like animations)
  • Live Audio-Only
  • Live Video-Only
  • Page Background Sounds
  • Page Background Video

2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold (Level A)

Certain strobing or flashing animations can trigger seizures, which can pose life-threatening situations for some users. In addition, they can be distracting and disruptive for individuals with cognitive disabilities, such as attention deficit disorder (ADD). Because of this, ensure that web pages do not contain anything that flashes more than three times per second.

Applies to:

  • Prerecorded Video-Only (and video-like animations)
  • Live Video-Only
  • Page Background Video

Learn more about accessible multimedia

Read our blog post Captions and Audio Descriptions

Check out the full list of WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion