- Success Criterion 1.2.3
- Conformance level A
No Audio Description or Text Alternative for a Visual Video
1.2.3 — Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)
Scenario
Setting
A public library's catalog search
What’s wrong
No numbered W3C failure technique exists for this rule — it fails simply when the required feature/behavior is missing or inadequate (see the scenarios below).
Example
A public library's catalog search is a good example: no numbered W3C failure technique exists for this rule — it fails simply when the required feature/behavior is missing or inadequate (see the scenarios below).
Why it matters
Blind and low-vision viewers who hear dialogue but miss unique visual information. On a public library's catalog search specifically, they get no equivalent for the sound or picture content.
How to test
Play the video and note anything shown but not said (on-screen text, diagrams, actions): if there's no audio description or full text alternative covering it, it fails.
How to fix
An audio description or a full descriptive transcript covering all important visual information must be provided.
Outcome
Fixed, a visitor to a public library's catalog search can understand the image, video, or audio content.
Who is affected
Blind and low-vision viewers who hear dialogue but miss unique visual information.
Learn more
- Understanding Understanding document (opens in a new tab)
Related scenarios
- Video’s Visual-Only Content Never Described in Any Format
- Transcript That Only Covers Dialogue, Not What’s On Screen
- Described Video Version That’s Impossible to Find
- Audio Description Track With No Way to Turn It On
- Media Alternative Describing an Older, Outdated Video Cut
- Text-Alternative Exception Claimed Without a Real Text Version