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1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative – Prerecorded (Level A)

For all prerecorded video files there must be either an audio description or a full text description.

What you need to know

  • If your video’s sound conveys all relevant information, no audio description is needed.
  • You may notice there’s some overlap between this success criteria and 1.2.5. That’s because creating an audio description of your video is required by that success criteria as well.
  • An audio description provides important information (e.g. actions, characters, scene changes) during pauses in the dialogue of a video.
  • Including a full text description directly below your video is a nice enhancement, but you need to satisfy the audio description under 1.2.5 which means the text description is not required.

Plain English Explanation

  • Include an audio description with prerecorded videos that convey non-spoken information.

Reference

Read the full explanation of success criterion 1.2.3 on W3.org.

Related Resource

Read “1.2.3 Techniques” from W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative for more information about this success criterion.