1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded)

Who it helps

Blind people and people with low vision hear what happens on screen while they watch, without switching to a separate document. It also helps some people with cognitive disabilities, who benefit from hearing what is shown.

How to meet it

• List the visual information a listener would miss: actions, on-screen text, charts, speaker changes and scene changes.
• Write short descriptions that fit natural pauses in the dialogue, and record them as narration.
• Offer the described version as a separate video or a selectable audio track, with a clear link or control near the player.
• Plan new videos so speakers say what they show, such as reading on-screen text aloud; then little description is needed.
• If the video has no important visual information beyond the soundtrack, no description is needed.
• Browsers don't voice <track kind="descriptions"> on their own, so don't rely on it as the only description.

Examples

<video controls src="/video/brand-story.mp4">
  <track kind="captions" src="/video/brand-story.en.vtt"
         srclang="en" label="English">
</video>

<video controls src="/video/brand-story.mp4">
  <track kind="captions" src="/video/brand-story.en.vtt"
         srclang="en" label="English">
</video>
<p><a href="/video/brand-story-described.mp4">
  Watch with audio description</a></p>

Common mistakes

• Offering only a text transcript, which meets 1.2.3 but not 1.2.5.
• Ignoring available pauses in the dialogue and leaving key visuals undescribed.
• Skipping on-screen text such as names, prices, URLs or step numbers.
• Describing trivial details so the narration talks over the dialogue.

Related criteria

• 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)
• 1.2.7 Extended Audio Description (Prerecorded)
• 1.2.8 Media Alternative (Prerecorded)
• 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded)

Official W3C explanation of 1.2.5