How to add captions to website videos

WCAG: 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) (A) and 1.4.2 Audio Control (A) · Updated October 14, 2026

Captions serve Deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors, people watching with the sound off, and non-native speakers. Automated scans can detect a self-hosted video with no caption track, but not whether captions are accurate.

YouTube and Vimeo

Both generate automatic captions, but they often contain errors in names, numbers and technical terms. Open the captions editor, correct them, and publish. Then embed with captions enabled by default where possible.

Self-hosted video

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

A WebVTT file is plain text:

WEBVTT

00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:04.000
Welcome to our showroom.

Related requirements

• Audio-only content (podcasts) needs a transcript.
• If important information is only shown visually, provide audio description or describe it in the narration.
• Do not autoplay sound. Background videos should be muted and have a pause control.

Step by step

1. Inventory videos. List every video and audio file on the site.
2. Create captions. Generate captions, then correct them by hand.
3. Attach captions. Publish captions on the platform or add a track element.
4. Stop autoplay sound. Mute autoplaying media and provide controls.

Automated accessibility scan. Results are informational and may not identify every accessibility issue. This service is not legal advice, a compliance certification, or a substitute for comprehensive manual accessibility testing.