Complete Guide to Accessible Multimedia

Accessible media is essential to ensuring everyone’s full participation. Adding videos and audio to websites and instructional materials enriches the digital experience. When you use media, remember that some viewers may be unable to see the frame. Others may be unable to hear the audio. Yet others may struggle to pay attention to the main information presented. The media’s content determines what it means to make the contents accessible. This may involve adding captions or providing a descriptive transcript.

The practices and resources below will help you create accessible user experiences using captions and transcripts.

Multimedia Guidelines and Best Practices

Captioning Guidelines

• Best Practices for Captioning

 

Transcript Creation and Accessibility

• Transcript Creation and Accessibility
• Transcript Types for Accessibility
• What Is Needed for Transcripts to Meet Accessibility Criteria
• When Are Transcripts Required
• What Can I Do If Transcription Does Not Meet Requirements
• Steps to Make an Accessible Transcript
• Preparing Visuals to Be Incorporated Into Captions and Transcripts
• Audio Transcripts for Zoom Meetings

 

Additional Features for Multimedia

Keyboard Accessibility Features for Multimedia

• Clear labels for all buttons and controls
• Navigation and activating buttons by both mouse and keyboard
• No auto-play when users navigate to the page
• Easy identification of interactive elements
• Clear and consistent navigation options
• Clearly associated labels for form elements
• Easily identifiable feedback

 

Check for keyboard navigation on multimedia players. If a keyboard cannot access all controls, the player is not accessible. Use the following universal keys to check navigation:

• The Enter key or space bar activates the Play/Pause control.
• The arrow keys, usually up and down arrow keys, manipulate the Volume control.
• The arrow keys, usually left and right keys, manipulate the Forward and Rewind controls.
• Depending on their design, other controls like Captions and Full Screen are activated by the keyboard.

 

 

WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria

The issues described on this page map to the following success criteria in the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1:

• 1.2 Time-based Media (Level A)
• 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded) (Level A)
• 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) (Level A)
• 1.2.3 Audio Descriptions or Media Alternative (Prerecorded) (Level A)
• 1.2.4 Captions (Live) (Level AA)
• 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded) (Level AA)
• 1.2.6 Sign Language (Prerecorded) (Level AAA)
• 1.2.7 Extended Audio Description (Prerecorded) (Level AAA)
• 1.2.8 Media Alternative (Prerecorded) (Level AAA)
• 1.2.9 Audio-only (Live) (Level AAA)