Audio and video

Many Esri applications permit the embedding of prerecorded audio and video files. Both formats require text alternatives.

Audio transcripts

For prerecorded audio files that do not contain visual content, include a text transcript. This can be a separate file.

Video captions and descriptions

For prerecorded videos, captions and video descriptions must be uploaded to the video-hosting platform so that the text alternatives are available when the video is embedded within an Esri application.

To determine which type of assets may be necessary, review this audio and video media planning checklist from the W3C.

Autoplay

Autoplay is discouraged. While technically permissible by WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) criteria, as long as a media player has controls that allow someone to pause, stop, or hide any content that lasts longer than 5 seconds, it can be very distracting for non-sighted individuals and those with cognitive disorders.

For those navigating with a screen reader, an auto-playing video with sound may result in competing sources of auditory information. Plus, if an individual cannot see the location of the player, they may not be able to navigate to it quickly to disable the video.

For individuals with cognitive disabilities, the automatic motion in videos may trigger vestibular disorders or make it difficult to concentrate.

Related criteria

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines tied to this topic are as follows:

• 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)

• 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded)

• 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded)

• 1.4.2 Audio Control

• 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide