How to make video and audio accessible

Transcripts for audio-only content

Audio-only content includes podcasts, recordings of speeches or interviews. Audio-only content can be either pre-recorded or live.

Pre-recorded audio-only content requires a transcript to be accessible (W3C).

A transcript's main purpose is to provide information you hear to people who cannot hear or access the audio. 

Transcripts help people who:

  • cannot hear or find it hard to hear audio 
  • find it hard to follow audio and prefer to read information as text instead
  • are both Deaf and blind and use braille displays to read text

Live audio-only content does not require transcripts under WCAG AA, but provide one where possible. For example, by providing a link to a text transcript of a prepared statement or script if the script is followed.

Types of transcripts

There are two types of transcripts: basic and descriptive. 

Basic transcripts provide just the spoken dialogue. In some cases, this is not enough to meet accessibility requirements. 

Descriptive transcripts include spoken dialogue and the non-speech audio.

If your audio contains non-speech audio that's important to understanding the content, you must describe this in your transcript. For example, sound effects or laughter. 

You do not need to include background audio in transcripts. 

How to create and add a transcript in content

You can start with an automatically-generated text file. Plan to spend time correcting automatically-generated transcription. There is not a set design for transcripts, so pick one that reads best for your users. 

Remember, the main purpose of a transcript is to provide the information that you hear to people who cannot hear the audio.

For more on creating your transcript, follow the W3C guide on transcribing audio to text.

Once you've created your transcript, make it easy for people to find. Most transcripts on the web are provided in HTML. 

You can either

  • publish a transcript as HTML text directly underneath the audio
  • link to a separate transcript underneath or alongside

For example,:

More on accessible audio-only content

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

This guidance may address the following: