Captions - Easy Checks
What are Captions?
Captions are called “subtitles” in some locations.
Captions are a text version of the speech and other sounds needed to understand the content. They are displayed within the media player and are synchronized with the audio.
Most are “closed captions” that can be hidden or shown by people watching the video. They can be “open captions” that are always displayed and cannot be turned off.
Who depends on Captions?
- People who are Deaf, hard-of-hearing, or otherwise have difficulty hearing, or cannot hear, the sound depend on captions to provide audio content
- Some people who process written information better than audio information
- Some people also like to use captions to be sure they’re not missing the dialogue due to a speaker’s accent or quiet or fast speech, or loud background sounds
- People in noisy environments or who have to keep noise levels down
- People watching videos in their non-native language or learning a new language
Checking Captions
Check captions are available
- Play the video. If you see captions, they may be open captions.
- Check for a closed caption button in the media player. This is often shown as “[CC]”. If no captions are available, some players don’t show the button.
- Click the closed caption button to confirm captions are available in the language of the audio.
- If only auto-generated captions, then sufficient captions are not provided.
Find out why automatically-generated captions do not meet user needs or accessibility requirements.
Check caption quality
- Check if the captions have appropriate punctuation and capitalization.
- Check if the captions are in sync with the spoken content.
- If there are multiple people speaking, check if the person speaking is identified when they speak.
- Check if other important sounds, like applause or thunder rumbling, are included.
Learn more
- User Experiences and Benefits to Organizations, in Making Audio and Video Media Accessible
- Captions/Subtitles, in Making Audio and Video Media Accessible
- Understanding 1.2.2: Captions (Prerecorded)?