1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)

What does it mean?

If you publish a recording that is only audio, such as a podcast episode, provide a text transcript with all the spoken content and important sounds. If you publish a video with no sound, such as a silent product animation, provide a text alternative or an audio track that describes what happens.

This applies to pre-recorded media only. It does not apply when the media itself is an alternative for text already on the page and is clearly labelled as such.

Who does it help?

• Deaf and hard-of-hearing people (for audio-only content)
• Blind people (for video-only content)
• People who cannot play sound at work or in public
• People who prefer to read or search a text version

Common failures

• A podcast page with an audio player but no transcript
• A silent demo video showing how a product works, with no text describing the steps
• A transcript that only summarises and leaves out important spoken information

How we test it

• evidence Evidence: our scanner collects material such as screenshots, lists and measurements.

Test question: Pre-recorded audio needs a transcript; silent video needs a text or audio alternative.

A person decides every criterion. No criterion ever passes automatically.

How to fix it

<audio src="episode-12.mp3" controls></audio>

<audio src="episode-12.mp3" controls></audio>
<details>
  <summary>Transcript of episode 12</summary>
  <p>Anna: Welcome to episode 12. Today we talk about…</p>
</details>

The transcript next to the player gives everyone access to the full spoken content.

Practical tips

• Machine transcription is a good start, but always proofread names, numbers and technical terms.

Guides and patterns on this

• Accessible video: captions, audio description and the playerA video only reaches people who can both see and hear it, unless you add captions, audio description and a player everyone can use. This is what WCAG asks for.

Official source

Understanding WCAG 2.2 at the W3C: 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)