For video-only content, like silent movies, silent demos and animations, there needs to be a text description that describes what’s happening on screen.

The aim is to create the same experience with your text as you get from the video.

This is an accessibility requirement, meeting Success Criterion 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded), level A.

For videos that have dialogue, there needs to be accurate and complete captions. These can be always on (open captions) or hideable (closed captions).

Using YouTube’s automatic captions isn’t enough as the accuracy can’t be guaranteed.

This is an accessibility requirement, meeting Success Criterion 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded), level A.

If the video is a live webcast or broadcast, we can use real-time text translation in captions, such as on YouTube.

This is an accessibility requirement, meeting Success Criterion 1.2.4 Captions (Live), level AA.

Videos also need to have a specific audio track that includes audio descriptions. Users must be able to select whether to use this audio track or not. You can do this by having a separate video that includes only the audio description soundtrack.

Live videos do not need audio descriptions.

This is an accessibility requirement, meeting Success Criterion 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded), level AA.

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