1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded)

What does it mean?

At level AA, a text alternative is no longer sufficient on its own. Pre-recorded videos need an audio description: narration that describes important visual content, such as actions, scene changes and on-screen text, during natural pauses in the dialogue. This can be a separate audio track or a second version of the video.

If the existing soundtrack already conveys all important visual information, no additional description is needed. Purely decorative visuals do not need describing.

Who does it help?

• Blind people
• People with low vision
• People who listen to a video while doing something else

Common failures

• An image film with music only, while all the information is in visuals and on-screen text
• A product demo where steps are only shown, not said
• Offering only a text transcript at level AA where the video has important visuals that are not spoken

How we test it

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

Test question: Do pre-recorded videos have audio description where the picture carries information?

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

How to fix it

<video controls src="product.mp4">
  <track kind="captions" src="product.en.vtt" srclang="en" label="English">
</video>

<video controls src="product.mp4">
  <track kind="captions" src="product.en.vtt" srclang="en" label="English">
</video>
<p><a href="/videos/product-described">Watch the version with audio description</a></p>

A clearly linked version with narrated description gives blind viewers the visual information as sound.

Practical tips

• Writing the script with description in mind is much cheaper than adding it afterwards.

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: 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded)