Who this affects
Audio content has no captions or transcript.
How to fix it
Provide a transcript, or captions via a <track> element.
Effort High · ~1-2 h per file
Where this sits in the standard
| WCAG success criterion | Level | EN 301 549 clause |
|---|---|---|
| 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded) | A | 301-549, 9.1.2.1 |
EN 301 549 clause 9 applies these criteria to web content. The published version referenced by the European Accessibility Act is V3.2.1, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 level A and AA. More on the standard.
How to check it by hand
Play the media with the sound off. If you cannot follow it, captions are missing or wrong. Auto-generated captions usually need correcting before they count.
Automated testing settles roughly a third of the WCAG success criteria. This rule is one an automated tool detects reliably — but a clean automated result is not proof of conformance.
Reference
Deque's technical write-up for this rule: audio-caption
See whether your site trips this rule
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