Captions (Prerecorded)
Captions must be provided for prerecorded audio content in synchronized media (videos with sound).
What it requires
WCAG 2.0 SC 1.2.2 requires synchronized captions on every prerecorded video that has audio — product demos, tutorials, founder stories, ads. Auto-generated YouTube/Vimeo captions are an acceptable starting point but require human review for accuracy.
The captions must be synchronized with the audio timing and must convey both spoken dialogue and meaningful non-speech audio (music cues, sound effects).
Common Shopify failure
Hero-section autoplaying product demo video with audio voice-over and no captions. Tutorial videos embedded in product pages without captions or transcripts.
How to fix it
AccessComply detects `<video>` elements without `<track kind="captions">` and missing transcripts, and flags them for the merchant to add. Where YouTube embeds are used, the agent verifies caption availability via the YouTube Data API.
Primary source: W3C — WCAG 2.0 Understanding 1.2.2