Accessible videos are a classic example of the universal design philosophy, which states that “what is essential for some, is almost always helpful for all. ” For example, videos with captions can help everyone when:   

  • People are in noisy public environments such as airports, gyms, and restaurants.
  • A person wants to watch a video while another person is sleeping or studying quietly.
  • A speaker in the video has a strong or difficult to understand accent.
  • A video includes specialized or unfamiliar vocabulary (legal, medical or scientific terms).
  • A sound system is not working, or the sound quality is poor.

Above content is from the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials (opens in new window) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Read the standards for audio and video media in Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) (opens in new window)