How to make video and audio accessible

Transcripts for audio-only content

Pre-recorded audio-only content like podcasts, speeches, or interviews must have a text transcript to be accessible.

Why audio-only content needs a transcript

A transcript provides the audio information in text form for people who cannot hear it. This helps people who:

are deaf or hard of hearing
are deafblind and use braille displays
have attention difficulties, limited time, or prefer reading, scanning, or searching text

Transcripts can also be used with AI tools to summarise content, extract key points or translate audio into other languages.

Types of audio-only content:

podcasts
recordings of speeches or interviews
pre-recorded or live content

An audio-only transcript:

is mandatory for pre-recorded audio-only content
is not required for live audio-only content, but can be helpful if available (for example, using a script or prepared statement)

Creating a transcript

Start with an automatically-generated text file of the audio. Be prepared to spend time reviewing and correcting the transcript.

There is no set design for transcripts, but you must structure it in a way that is easy to read and understand.

We recommend you:

add a clear title identifying what it is a transcript of
make paragraphs and add headings
identify the speakers
correct errors with auto-transcribing, but do not change, censor or add to the text that is spoken
avoid all uppercase letters, except to indicate yelling
include meaningful non-spoken audio that's missing in square brackets, like [laughter], [fire alarm beeping], or [intro music]
do not include background audio,

Learn what else you can transcribe in your transcript from the W3C

Publishing your transcript online

Make transcripts easy to find. Most are provided as text on a web page and do not require users to interact with the audio player.

You can either:

publish a transcript text directly underneath the recording on the same page
provide a link to a separate web page with the transcript

Example: The NottAlone Podcast has a transcript underneath each episode recording. They also post a transcript link alongside their streaming link on the podcast's main page.

If a transcript cannot be provided immediately

If a transcript for pre-recorded audio-only content cannot be provided immediately:

provide a written summary of the key points on the same page as the audio.
allow users to request the content in another accessible format if needed.

Transcripts are required for pre-recorded audio-only content, but a summary ensures users still have access until the full transcript is made available.