RE: Captions requirement for picture in picture videos

Hi Ajay,

With respect to what John mentioned:

"Yes. To be WCAG compliant, all videos require captions (unless there is no audio track/narrative present)"

I might also add that, if there is no audio,  let the user know that is the case, perhaps in adjacent text to the video. By doing so you explicitly communicate that there is no audio. Often times users will assume that they have simply not been accommodated, which is often the case.

If anyone is interested, I highly recommend the book Reading Sounds by Sean Zdenek: Reading Sounds | Closed-Captioned Media and Popular Culture<https://readingsounds.net/>. It exposes the complexity of taking complex layers of sound and linearizing it into a timed text format. His website is loaded with great examples along the way.

Chris O'Brien
Director of Accessibility
Legal and Litigation



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From: John Foliot <john@foliot.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, September 7, 2021 5:31 PM
To: Ajay Sharma <ajaysharma89003@gmail.com>
Cc: WAI Interest Group <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: Re: Captions requirement for picture in picture videos

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Hi Ajay,

A number of years ago, as part of the then emergent HTML5 efforts, a smaller group inside of the W3C got together and created the MAUR - the Media Accessibility User Requirements. As part of that effort, we looked at, and significantly discussed, captions and caption needs for multiple user groups.

While most of the requirements detailed in the MAUR are not considered "normative requirements" (i.e. they are not specifically part of WCAG), the requirements go beyond minimal expectations and are hopefully the "everything-for-everyone document", outlining the needs of users with differing disabilities. That document, and it's guidance, can be found at: https://www.w3.org/TR/media-accessibility-reqs/<https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2FTR%2Fmedia-accessibility-reqs%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cchrobrien%40olg.ca%7Cc2f0bf0770284c50a7fb08d972479a03%7Cf271d9b4e54c46e182bd25d50afa3779%7C0%7C0%7C637666474592342216%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=l6SxdkEQ%2FtNBpD97niufU4m2oTzfMLeZKK6XbhjHVCg%3D&reserved=0>

To your use case:

> does a video being displayed within picture in picture frame need to have captions?

Yes. To be WCAG compliant, all videos require captions (unless there is no audio track/narrative present)

> if we  show the captions it will appear very small and very hard to read, so would  it be still a compliance requirement or a good to have feature?

It remains a compliance requirement. WCAG states:
Success Criterion 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) (Level A)

Captions are provided for all prerecorded audio content in synchronized media, except when the media is a media alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such.

You will note however that the Success Criterion does not speak to caption placement, caption font size, or (frankly) any other aspect of captions, only that they must be present.

MAUR goes further and suggests a few additional requirements, such as:

  *   [CC5] Support positioning in all parts of the screen - either inside the media viewport but also possibly in a determined space next to the media viewport.
  *   [CC-9] Permit a range of font faces and sizes.
  *   [CC-11] Render text in a range of colors. The user should have final control over rendering styles like color and fonts; e.g., through user preferences.
Add those all up, and yes, the concern you articulate is indeed a concern. Since today I am personally unaware of a video player that supports those specific MAUR requirements, I would advise that at a minimum, you also ensure that a text transcript *ALSO* be readily available for those users who will need text equivalencies. It may not be "the letter of the law", but it *IS* the right thing to do.

HTH

JF

On Tue, Sep 7, 2021 at 3:38 PM Ajay Sharma <ajaysharma89003@gmail.com<mailto:ajaysharma89003@gmail.com>> wrote:
Hello,

Looking for some insights on a situation where we have a video player that shows captions when viewed in original player, and this video player will also show up within picture in picture frame so that people can multitask while viewing the video. So, the question is does a video being displayed within picture in picture frame need to have captions? Since even if we  show the captions it will appear very small and very hard to read, so would  it be still a compliance requirement or a good to have feature?

Thanks,
Ajai


--
John Foliot |
Senior Industry Specialist, Digital Accessibility |
W3C Accessibility Standards Contributor |
"I made this so long because I did not have time to make it shorter." - Pascal "links go places, buttons do things"