Glossary
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) define what's required to make web content accessible to people with disabilities. For audio and video, the relevant requirements are caption-related: 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) at Level A, 1.2.4 Captions (Live) at Level AA, and 1.2.5 Audio Description at Level AA. If you publish video on a public-facing website, especially in regulated jurisdictions (US ADA, EU EAA, Canada AODA), these aren't optional.
WCAG 1.2.2 — Captions (Prerecorded), Level A
Every prerecorded audio-with-video on your site needs synchronized captions. "Synchronized" means timing-accurate to within ~250 ms of the spoken audio. "Captions" means the text content of speech AND any non-speech audio that affects meaning (sound effects, music cues, speaker identification). Plain text transcripts alone don't satisfy 1.2.2 — captions must appear synchronized with the video playback. Our SRT and VTT exports are designed to comply.
WCAG 1.2.4 — Captions (Live), Level AA
Live broadcasts (live streams, webinars, live events embedded on your site) need real-time captions. Level AA, so required for many compliance standards (US Section 508, EU EAA). This is a streaming ASR + human editor workflow — automated live captions alone may not meet quality standards on important live content. Tools: 3Play Media, Ai-Media, Verbit. We don't offer live captioning; we're a batch transcription service.
WCAG 1.2.5 — Audio Description, Level AA
For prerecorded video, an audio description track must describe key visual information that's not conveyed by the dialogue or natural sound. Example: "[a chart shows a 40% increase year-over-year]". This is a separate authoring step beyond captioning and typically requires a human producer/voice-over. Captions alone don't satisfy 1.2.5; audio descriptions are required at Level AA for prerecorded video.
In practice
You publish a 10-minute product demo video on your homepage. To meet WCAG AA: (1) Generate captions via Transcript.you, export VTT, attach to your HTML5 <video> via <track>. Satisfies 1.2.2. (2) Add a separate audio-description track (or an alternative video with description) for blind users. Satisfies 1.2.5. (3) For live launches/webinars, contract a human-review live-captioning service. Satisfies 1.2.4.
Related terms
Further reading
Generate WCAG-compliant captions
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does WCAG audio captions mean in transcription?
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines requirements for captioned audio content: synchronized captions for prerecorded media (Level A), live captions for live media (Level AA), and audio descriptions for video (Level AA).
Why does WCAG audio captions matter when choosing a transcription workflow?
WCAG audio captions affects how you understand transcript quality, timing, compatibility, or the technology behind speech-to-text results.
Where can I apply WCAG audio captions on Transcript.you?
Use the related workflow at /add-captions-to-video when you want to see how this glossary concept connects to an actual transcription task.
Browse the full transcription glossary or read the complete guide to AI transcription.