Audio Control
Any audio that plays automatically for more than 3 seconds must have a mechanism to pause, stop, or mute it independently from the overall system volume.
What it requires
WCAG 2.0 SC 1.4.2 protects screen-reader users (whose synthesized speech competes with auto-playing audio) and anyone in a quiet environment. Auto-playing background music or video sound that lasts more than 3 seconds must offer a pause/stop/mute button on the page itself.
Modern browsers increasingly block auto-play with sound by default, which mitigates the user-experience problem — but the criterion still requires a programmatic pause control to be exposed for screen-reader users.
Common Shopify failure
Hero section with auto-playing video that has audio enabled by default. Brand-story page that auto-plays atmospheric music without a pause button.
How to fix it
AccessComply rewrites auto-playing media to start muted by default (matching browser policy), and adds a visible play/pause/mute control overlay where audio is enabled.
Primary source: W3C — WCAG 2.0 Understanding 1.4.2