WCAG 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) Explained

What is the 1.2.2 Captions Guideline?

The 1.2.2 prerecorded captions guideline can be found in the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.1 Level A guidelines. These guidelines are the universal standard for measuring whether a website is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant.

The 1.2.2 guideline requirement is captions must be provided for any prerecorded videos on your website. Unlike transcripts, which can be on a different page, captions must sync with your videos. This doesn’t just include dialogue. Sound effects and the names of people speaking in the video need to be added also.

Captions can either be visible at all times or the user can choose whether to turn them on or off.

What is the Success Criterion?

The purpose of the Success Criterion is to help individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing watch and understand synchronized media presentations through the use of captions. By complying with this guideline you’re not just helping a tiny minority of users. On the contrary, it’s estimated that about 48 million Americans have some sort of hearing loss.

Captions can be done via:

• A captioning service – This may cost more than the captioning options below, but it will be a huge time saver and provide the most accurate results.
• Auto-generated captions – Some online platforms use voice-generated software to provide captions. The problem is, often it can’t handle people mumbling or speaking too quickly. This can make them inaccurate. At the very least, you should check the captions to make sure nothing is missing and that they make sense.
• Speech to text auto-sync – This is a bit more accurate than auto-generated captions. You type out the text of the video’s audio and the platform automatically syncs it. Of course, if you have dozens of videos on your websites, you could be spending a bit of time on this.
• DIY – You can caption the videos on your website yourself. However, if you have a lot of videos, it can be extremely time-consuming

You can use auto-generated captions as a stop-gap for time-sensitive videos. Try and check their accuracy and fix any errors as soon as you can. After all, it can be argued that having captions that don’t make sense or are incomplete is almost as bad as having no captions.

What are the benefits of captioning?

Captions do more than provide a video’s dialogue. They can help deaf and hard-of-hearing users sense the mood of your content too. This makes for a richer user experience. For example, captions that describe the sound of footsteps approaching in a horror movie help convey a feeling of suspense or dread much better than dialogue alone.

Examples of Success Criterion 1.2.2

Here are some examples of Success Criterion 1.2.2 Captions (prerecorded):

• A rock concert is captioned to include more than the band’s song lyrics. Descriptions of the tempo of the music, any solos and audience reactions are in the captions too.
• A movie clip shows two people arguing and talking over each other. Naturally, the captions include their dialogue. It also describes how loudly they’re speaking, what they’re saying and that the dialogue is overlapping. If there is another sound, like a radio playing in the background, that and the song playing or musical style are noted too.
• Captions are provided for the prerecorded video of a college lecture. The professor’s presentation and any questions or comments the students had are all included.

Exceptions

If the video itself is being used as an alternative to text, there is no need to caption it. Let’s say you have a video that explains how an airplane takes off. If the narration is repeated via animated text in the video, you don’t have to caption it.

Does Your Website Fail 1.2.2 Captions Guideline?

If your website doesn’t adhere to the 1.2.2 captions guideline, let us help. We can provide an in-depth website audit to check for non-compliance issues with the 1.2.2 caption guideline and all other WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA guidelines.

Our WCAG Audit service page provides more information on how we can help your website become accessible.