1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded)

Level A · added in WCAG 2.0

Prerecorded video with sound needs captions. Captions show the dialogue in sync with the video and name speakers when it isn't obvious. They also describe sounds that matter, like a doorbell or laughter.

Who it helps

Deaf and hard-of-hearing people need captions to follow speech and sound in video. Captions also help people watching in a noisy place or with the sound off, and people learning the language.

How to meet it

Caption every prerecorded video with meaningful audio, including marketing clips, tutorials and embedded third-party videos.
Include all dialogue, speaker identification and important non-speech sounds, such as [door slams] or [upbeat music].
For HTML video, add a WebVTT file with <track kind="captions">, plus srclang and label attributes.
Edit automatic captions before you publish: fix names, technical terms, punctuation and timing.
Open captions burned into the video also count, as long as they are complete and easy to read.
Know the exception: a video that only presents text already on the page, and is clearly labeled as an alternative, needs no captions.

Examples

Fails:A video with sound and no captions track

<video controls width="640">
  <source src="/video/onboarding.mp4" type="video/mp4">
</video>

Fails:A chapters track is not a captions track

<video controls width="640">
  <source src="/video/onboarding.mp4" type="video/mp4">
  <track kind="chapters" src="/video/onboarding-chapters.vtt" srclang="en">
</video>

Passes:A WebVTT captions track, shown by default

<video controls width="640">
  <source src="/video/onboarding.mp4" type="video/mp4">
  <track kind="captions" src="/video/onboarding.en.vtt"
         srclang="en" label="English" default>
</video>

Passes:Captions alongside the chapters track

<video controls width="640">
  <source src="/video/onboarding.mp4" type="video/mp4">
  <track kind="captions" src="/video/onboarding.en.vtt"
         srclang="en" label="English" default>
  <track kind="chapters" src="/video/onboarding-chapters.vtt" srclang="en">
</video>

Can a scanner detect this?

Partly

axe-core's video-caption rule checks each video element for a <track kind="captions"> child, and asks for a review when it finds none. It can't see captions burned into the video or supplied by a third-party player. No tool can judge whether captions are accurate, complete and in sync, so watch each video with captions on.

axe-core rules that test it

video-caption

Common mistakes

Publishing unedited automatic captions that misspell names and drop words.
Captioning speech but leaving out sounds that matter, such as an alarm or a laugh.
Embedding a YouTube or Vimeo video that has no captions on the hosting platform.
Captioning the main video but forgetting short clips, demos and social videos on the page.

Official W3C explanation of 1.2.2

Check your own page

See which automated WCAG checks your page fails, with the failing elements and how to fix them.

Reviewed November 2, 2026