Audio Description or Text Alternative for How-To Videos

Two ways to tell people what the picture shows

A county recycling video shows a hand dropping a plastic bag into a blue bin, then a red circle with a line through it. The narrator says only "Remember, no bags." Someone listening without seeing the screen hears a rule with no object.

WCAG 1.2.3 (Level A) asks that prerecorded video with sound have either an alternative for time-based media or audio description of the video. You choose one:

• Audio description: narration, placed in the gaps of the main soundtrack, that describes actions, characters, scene changes and on-screen text.
• Media alternative: a text document that gives the dialogue and the visual information in the order it occurs. It may also need equivalent functionality, such as links, if the video has interactive parts.

The exception: no media alternative is needed when the media is itself an alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such.

Check the soundtrack before writing anything

If everything important in the picture is already said aloud, no additional description is needed. A presenter who says "this chart shows complaints dropping from 40 to 12 a month" has described the chart. The cheapest way to meet the criterion is to script the video so the narrator names what is shown.

When the video relies on pictures (a slide with a table, a gesture, a screen demo with no voice-over of the fields), the description or the alternative needs to carry it.

What Level A and AA mean for how-to videos

Agencies often publish walkthrough videos for applications, renewals and enrollment. The recurring gap is a narrator who says "click here" while the cursor does the work. Under a standard that includes both Level A and Level AA, a text media alternative satisfies 1.2.3, but 1.2.5 at Level AA separately asks for audio description of prerecorded video. A descriptive transcript is therefore a good start and an essential reference page; it does not settle the AA requirement. How Level AA fits into the Title II standard is covered in WCAG 2.1 AA and the ADA.

Web recipes: descriptive transcripts next to the player

A descriptive transcript interleaves the speaker's words with what is seen. The first example shows the difference.

Narrator: Place the blue bin at the curb by 7 a.m.
Narrator: Never put plastic bags in the bin.

[On screen: A blue 64-gallon bin at the curb. The number 214 is painted on the lid.]
Narrator: Place the blue bin at the curb by 7 a.m.
[On screen: A hand drops a clear plastic bag into the bin. A red circle with a slash appears over it.]
Narrator: Never put plastic bags in the bin.

Where the text lives is part of the design. A download is easy to miss and cannot be searched in the page.

<video controls src="/video/bin-day.mp4"></video>
<p><a href="/docs/bin-day-script.pdf" download>Download script</a></p>

<video controls src="/video/bin-day.mp4"></video>
<details>
  <summary>Text version with visual descriptions</summary>
  <p><em>On screen:</em> A blue 64-gallon bin at the curb...</p>
  <p><strong>Narrator:</strong> Place the blue bin at the curb by 7 a.m.</p>
</details>

If you produce audio description instead, say so next to the player so users can find it.

<video controls src="/video/bin-day.mp4"></video>

<video controls src="/video/bin-day.mp4"></video>
<ul>
  <li><a href="/video/bin-day-described.mp4">
    Watch with audio description</a></li>
  <li><a href="/video/bin-day.html#text-version">
    Read the text version</a></li>
</ul>

Apps and mobile players

In a native app the same options apply: ship a described version, or provide the text alternative as an in-app screen. The platform players have no special switch that satisfies this criterion on its own, so the work is the script and the alternative.

How to check it

1. Play the video with your eyes closed (or the screen off). Can you tell what was done, what was shown and what any on-screen text said?
2. For each place where you could not, check whether the alternative or described version fills the gap.
3. If you chose a media alternative, read it in the order of the video. It should cover speech, sounds and the actions.
4. Make sure the link to the alternative is next to the player and can be reached by keyboard.

Mistakes seen in practice

• A transcript that has only the dialogue.
• Assuming captions satisfy this criterion; they serve people who cannot hear.
• A narrator who points: "as you can see here".
• Hiding the alternative behind a request form or a login.
• Stating that no description is needed for a video whose key content is on screen only.

Ship it when

• Each prerecorded video with sound has a media alternative or audio description, or the soundtrack alone already says everything shown.
• The alternative is linked directly beside the video.
• The text states actions, scene changes and on-screen text, in order.

Sources

• Understanding SC 1.2.3: Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded) (W3C), opens in a new tab
• G69: Providing an alternative for time based media (W3C), opens in a new tab
• G173: Providing a version of a movie with audio descriptions (W3C), opens in a new tab
• 28 CFR Part 35, Subpart H: Accessibility of Web Information and Services (eCFR), opens in a new tab

Standard version: WCAG 2.1 (W3C Recommendation, 5 June 2018), as named in the Title II web rule. This page is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. For binding requirements, refer to the official ADA statute and regulations, and ask a lawyer how they apply to you.