How to make video and audio accessible
Audio in video and audio-only content
Make sure important audio in videos or audio-only content (like podcasts) is easy for everyone to hear and understand.
This helps everyone, especially people who find it difficult to understand speech or distinguish between sounds.
There are two types of audio, informative audio and background audio.
Informative audio is important audio that adds information. It includes:
- speech
- sounds important for understanding, like laughter, sounds happening off-screen or music relevant to the content topic
Background audio does not add information, like city sounds or background music. Make sure background audio:
- does not make it difficult to hear or understand informative audio
- is at least 20 decibels (about four times) quieter than informative audio - you may need to remove it if it's not
Do not include background audio in captions or transcripts.
