Skip to main content

1.2.5 - Audio Description (Prerecorded) - AA

Intent​

Enable people who are blind or visually impaired to understand the visual information in synchronized media by providing audio descriptions.

info

All of the points about the audio description from the 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded) - A apply to this criterion, the rest (about the transcript) is not a part of this criterion.

Conformance​

Three WCAG criteria overlap with each other due to the conformance:

These 3 criteria exist to give you a choice for a minimum conformance level:

  • If you want to conform only to level A, you can choose between including either transcript or audio description.
  • If you want to conform to level AA, including only audio description is enough for the conformance. However, including both transcript and audio description is best for users.
  • If you want to conform to level AAA, you must include both the transcript and the audio description, because in order to conform to level AAA you also need to meet all the level A and AA criteria first.

Test Your Knowledge​

A webpage contains a video with audio descriptions. What WCAG level it conforms to, considering criterions 1.2.3, 1.2.5, and 1.2.8?

The webpage conforms to AA because the level A is met by providing an audio description OR transcript, and the level AA is met by providing an audio description. If the video would contain a transcript too, it would conform to level AAA.