Accessible Audio & Video

This page guides you through making your videos and audios accessible, ensuring equitable learning opportunities for all students.

Best practices for captions

Captions play an important role in making video content accessible. They support students with audio processing difficulties, those watching in a non-native language, and anyone learning in a noisy or silent environment. While platforms like YouTube can auto-generate captions, these can be inaccurate and require manual editing to meet accessibility standards. Watch the following video tutorials to learn how to revise YouTube and Kaltura auto-generated captions: 

The University of California contracts with 3Play Media(link is external) to provide high-quality, human-edited caption files at a reasonable price. You can visit the Processing a Purchase Order for 3Play Media(link is external) website to set up your department account.

  • Ensure accuracy and timing: Captions should be grammatically correct, properly capitalized, and synchronized with the audio. Avoid using all caps, except when yelling or referring to speaker names.

  • Describe sounds like [music playing] or [applause], and identify speakers when more than one person is talking (e.g., Speaker 1, Speaker 2, or by name).

  • Keep captions easy to read: Use no more than two lines per frame and aim for 32–42 characters per line for readability.

  • Avoid auto-captions for public videos: Always use human-edited captions before publishing videos on YouTube or other platforms.

Best practices for transcripts

Transcripts are helpful for students who prefer to review spoken content without needing to watch or listen to the original media. A quick way to create a transcript is to upload the audio or video to YouTube or Kaltura, download the auto-generated captions, and edit them for accuracy. To learn more, read How to leverage YouTube automatic captioning to caption your media file(link is external).