- Success Criterion 1.2.3
- Conformance level A
Video’s Visual-Only Content Never Described in Any Format
1.2.3 — Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)
Scenario
Setting
A community forum's discussion thread
What’s wrong
Video with important visual-only information (on-screen text, charts, demonstrations, scene changes) and no audio description and no descriptive transcript.
Example
<video src="walkthrough.mp4"></video>Why it matters
Blind and low-vision viewers who hear dialogue but miss unique visual information.
How to test
Play the video with eyes closed for 30 seconds: if you lose track of what's happening because visual information isn't described, it fails.
How to fix
An audio description or a full descriptive transcript covering all important visual information must be provided.
<video src="walkthrough.mp4"> <track kind="descriptions" src="desc-en.vtt" srclang="en"></video><a href="walkthrough-transcript.html">Full text alternative</a>A descriptions track or full transcript covers on-screen information dialogue never mentions.
Outcome
On a community forum's discussion thread, this barrier is gone for blind and low-vision viewers who hear dialogue but miss unique visual information — they can finish what they came here to do.
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
- No Audio Description or Text Alternative for a Visual Video
- 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- Media Alternative Describing an Older, Outdated Video Cut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