Accessible video

Every video we produce should meet the needs of our audience, and this includes people with a range of abilities. Creating accessible media broadens the reach and usability of videos.

Creating accessible media doesn’t need to add significant time to your work either, especially when it’s considered from the beginning of a project.

Captions

Our videos must have captions (subtitles) to provide content to people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Captions are a synchronised text version of the speech and non-speech audio information needed to understand the content.

There are two types of captions:

Soft captions 

These are captions that can be turned on/off by the user and are an option for most media players. Our video hosting provider (Wistia.com) provides an option to add a caption track to videos. 

Hard (burned-in) captions

Hard captions are contained within the video. This means that regardless of the video player, captions will always be available and shown on screen.

This is useful when producing content that will be shared through platforms or media players that don’t offer soft captions. 

Transcripts

Transcripts are text versions of the speech and non-speech audio information. Descriptive transcripts are required to provide video content to people who are both deaf and blind. 

Our aim is to provide text file transcripts for all external content, and these are available through our video hosting provider (Wistia.com).

Descriptions of visual information

Descriptions of visual information are also known as an audio description (AD).

These are for users who are blind or can't see the video and allow them to still get the visual information needed to understand the content. 

This includes visuals such as charts, graphs, and on-screen text. 

Most of our video content doesn’t require an audio description, as we rely on narration and voiceovers to give context for what is being shown on screen. When producing videos, you should also plan for this accordingly by:

• Referencing on-screen text it in the voiceover or transcript
• Avoiding using any graphics or text that aren’t explained by the narrator/voiceover.
• Remember that graphics should supplement what is on screen, not replace it

Graphics and visual elements

In addition to the guidance in our elements and style section, you should also make sure: 

• Text is large, and has a background that gives plenty of contrast
• On-screen graphics, charts and visuals should be displayed for an appropriate amount of time 
• Do not use flashing or strobing visuals 

Accessible colours

Our colour palette allows for a broad range of colour combinations, so it's important to know which of these are accessible and provide a good level of visual contrast.

Media players

Our video hosting platform provided by Wisitia.com provides full accessibility for videos including:

• Keyboard shortcuts for player controls 
• Captions (subtitles) 
• Descriptions of visual information 
• Transcripts 
• High-contrast elements