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Multimedia Accessibility

Young woman wearing headphones looking at her laptop.

As a public institution, we have a responsibility to create content that is accessible to all audiences. This page will provide some best practices for creating accessible videos for your courses.

Video

Videos are the number one content on the web, therefore, providing video content that is accessible to all viewers is important.

of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that all videos have captions with audio descriptions.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating videos:

  • Captions鈥擟aptions are a synchronized text version of audio and video content. They can be either open (always visible) or closed (toggle on/off). Captions provide equitable access to people who cannot access or process the original audio. This can include people who are deaf, hard of hearing, neurodivergent or listening to audio in poor conditions. In addition to spoken dialogue, captions must include audio descriptions. Audio descriptions are meaningful non-speech information conveyed through sound, such as:
    • Sound effects: Briefly describe sound effects in square brackets, e.g., [doorbell ringing], [pants swishing].
    • Music: Briefly describe music in brackets, e.g., [drum solo], [twangy guitar country music].
    • If the song is known, include the performer or composer and its title, e.g. [The McCoys singing 鈥淗ang on Sloopy鈥漖.
    • Caption song lyrics with musical note icon (鈾�) one at the beginning of the lyric and two at the end, e.g. 鈾� Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! 鈾櫔
    • Laughter and Applause: Briefly describe it in square brackets, e.g., [applause], [audience laughs].
    • Speaker identification: Ensure that every time a new speaker speaks, they are identified by name in parenthesis, e.g., (South Paw) Today I will be presenting on鈥�.
    • Location

Captioning is available for videos that are already uploaded to Panopto as well as newly created videos. Be sure to check your automatic captions for mistakes that would inhibit understanding of the content.

  • High Color Contrast鈥擬ake sure information is not conveyed with color alone, and that important content has sufficient contrast (at least a 4.5:1 contrast ratio).
  • Readable Text鈥擨f anyone is expected to read material in the video, make sure it is an easy to read font, is large enough, and stays on the screen long enough for most people to read.
  • Integrated Description*鈥擳his is when the visual information that users need to understand the content is integrated in the main audio. For example:
    • Instead of saying, "As you can see on this chart, sales increased significantly from the first quarter to the second quarter."
    • Say, "This chart shows that sales increased significantly, from 1 million in the first quarter to 1.3 million in the second quarter."

*If you don't verbally describe all visuals while recording your video, you will need to go back and insert audio descriptions for visuals that include essential content not covered verbally.

PLEASE NOTE: The Canvas Accessibility Checker does not check for accessibility of uploaded resources such as documents, slideshow presentations, or videos. However, you can use the UDOIT third party tool in Canvas to scan your course

Audio

Audio transcripts are required to accompany any audio recording.

Having clear, high-quality audio in your video will help viewers understand and process information more easily. Here are some things to consider when recording audio:

  • Recording Setup - Use high-quality microphone(s) and recording software (Panopto is an audio/video capture and management tool available to faculty, staff, and students at 欲漫涩.). When possible, record in a room that is isolated from external sounds. Rooms with hard surfaces (tile, brick, wood) cause audio to echo and make it difficult for the listener to understand.
  • Background Audio - When the main audio is a person speaking and you have background music, set the background audio level significantly lower than the person speaking.
  • Speak Slowly & Clearly - It's important for people to be able to understand what you're saying. Speak clearly and as slowly as appropriate to enable listener's to understand and comprehend your message.
  • Give People Time to Process Information - Pause between topics to allow listeners time to process content.
  • Use Clear Language - Avoid or explain jargon, acronyms, and idioms.
  • Provide Redundancy - Make your information work for people who can't see and/or hear. For example:
    • Instead of saying, "Attach this to the green end."
    • Say, "Attach the small ring to the green end, which is the larger end."

Zoom

Many online and web-blended courses involve Zoom meetings with students. These sessions can either be attended live or viewed as a recording at a later time. is a great way to make those meetings and recordings accessible. You can also for recorded sessions.