Make Video & Audio Accessible

Accessible video and audio files are media content that can be used, played, and understood by everyone. They have captions and transcripts of audio, descriptions of visuals, and media players that work with different technologies.

Video and audio can be made accessible when created with tools that support captions, and share on players or platforms with accessible design.

Learn more in Multimedia Accessibility Basic Training (U-M Canvas).

Best Practices

The best practices below apply to video and audio in general.

Captions

Captions are a text equivalent of audio, shown at the same time as the audio (usually a few lines at a time).

Add captions to your content by using a vendor for professional captioning or generating automatic captions with human review.

Evaluate captions for quality based on the following features:

  • Captions are synchronized with the video and audio content
  • Captions use correct grammar and punctuation
  • Speaker labels indicate who is speaking
  • Captions convey important background sounds and music

Learn more about captions best practices.

Creating Captions

Automatic Captions with Human Review

Learn about generating automatic captions to review yourself on the Media Player Accessibility Features page.

Professional Captioning

You can get accurate captions by working with a vendor to generate professional captions. Different services will have different costs and turn-around times. 

Transcripts

Transcripts are a stable text version of audio or video content. They usually have the same content as captions, but are available independently and asynchronously. Learn about transcript best practices.

Many media players convert captions into transcripts for you. If your audio player does not allow captions, provide a separate, stable transcript.

Creating Transcripts

Transcripts can be created from a script, automatically generated and edited, created from captions, or professionally transcribed.

Learn how to generate, edit, and upload transcripts with media on the Media Player Accessibility Features page.

Descriptions of Visuals

Descriptions, also called audio descriptions, provide information about visual elements of a video. This is especially important for people who are blind or have a visual disability who may not be able to see visual content or text in a video.

Creating Audio Descriptions

Include Descriptions in Original Audio

For videos such as a lecture recording or a screencast, include descriptions in the original audio by having the speaker describe important visuals. For example, the lecturer can describe their slides as they present. The voiceover narration can describe actions in the interface as they happen.

When these techniques are used, no additional description is required.

Professional Audio Descriptions

You can use a vendor for professional audio descriptions.

Create Descriptions Yourself

For very short media, such as a social media post or a welcome message, provide description in text separate from the video and posted nearby (on the same page or social media post).

For longer videos, description can be written in a separate document, like a transcript.

Review options for adding audio description tracks to your media on the Media Player Accessibility Features page.

Avoid Flashing Content

Some flashing, blinking, or strobing content can cause seizures for some people.

Make sure your video content does not contain more than three flashes in any one second period, or that the flash is below the general flash and red flash thresholds.

You can use the Photosensitive Epilepsy Analysis Tool (PEAT) to analyze your video content for seizure risks.

Avoid Auto-Playing Content

Wherever possible, select player settings that prevent video and audio files from auto-playing. This can be startling, distracting, and interfere with screen reader use.

Student Accommodations

If a student has an accommodation through the Services for Students with Disabilities office (SSD) for captions, transcripts or audio descriptions, faculty and staff can request these services through the SSD caption and transcript request form.

Additional Resources