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
Provide synchronized, reviewed captions for prerecorded video with audio. A `<track>` check or platform caption indicator can help find likely gaps, but human review is needed to establish accuracy and equivalent meaning.
Merchant QA checklist
- Scan the storefront page where this pattern appears: product pages, collection pages, cart drawer, customer-account pages, and any landing page built with theme sections.
- Confirm the issue is fixed in the rendered browser output, not only in the Liquid file. Shopify section settings, app blocks, and third-party scripts can reintroduce the same 1.2.2 failure after a theme edit.
- Re-test the affected component with keyboard navigation and a screen-reader accessibility tree before publishing the theme, especially when the fix changes markup or ARIA attributes.
How AccessComply handles it
AccessComply uses automated rules to check supported patterns in the pages reached during a scan. Some WCAG requirements need human judgment, assistive-technology testing, or access to third-party content and cannot be established by an automated scan. This criterion is generally treated as a pattern that needs hands-on review. If the app can safely match the issue to supported source code, the merchant must review and approve the suggested change before anything is written, and the result is checked afterward. Otherwise the merchant should use the guidance above and independent hands-on testing. The label is not a guarantee of detection, a fix, WCAG conformance, or legal compliance.
Primary source: W3C — WCAG 2.0 Understanding 1.2.2