Fix · Critical · ships with most lawsuits
How to fix: video without captions
Deaf users cannot access audio content. Captions transcribe both speech and meaningful sound.
- WCAG references
- 1.2.2
- Severity
- Critical
What it looks like in the wild
Deaf users cannot access audio content.
The screen-reader user, keyboard user, or low-vision user encountering this issue does not get an error message. The page just stops working for them. Which is why this kind of bug rarely shows up in your error tracker; it shows up in support tickets, lawsuits, and abandoned conversions.
Why it fails WCAG
Captions transcribe both speech and meaningful sound.
Map this back to 1.2.2 when you log the bug. Auditors and procurement teams expect that mapping; "broken" is not enough context.
The wrong pattern (avoid)
<video src="/promo.mp4" controls></video>The right pattern (copy this)
<video src="/promo.mp4" controls>
<track kind="captions" src="/promo.en.vtt" srclang="en" label="English" default>
</video>Notes from real audits
YouTube auto-captions are not WCAG-compliant on their own; review and correct.
Related fixes
How to fix: missing alt text on images
1.1.1
How to fix: low color contrast
1.4.3, 1.4.11
How to fix: form fields without labels
3.3.2, 1.3.1, 4.1.2
How to fix: missing H1 / wrong heading order
2.4.6, 1.3.1
WCAG 1.2.2 — Captions (Prerecorded)
Captions must be provided for all prerecorded audio in synchronized media.
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