Video Accessibility

Accessibility in videos is just as important as accessibility in documents. With the increasing use of technology, people have learned to rely on videos to learn and gain knowledge. You can do the following things to ensure the videos are accessible:

Add captions or subtitles.
Provide a descriptive text transcript to describe the visual information in detail.
Provide audio descriptions so people who are blind can hear and understand the content in the videos.

Accessible videos are helpful to everyone. For example, people with low vision and noisy environments will benefit from video subtitles. This learning guide will show you how to add captions and subtitles to YouTube videos and Zoom. Learn how to

YouTube Automatic Captions

Instructions

If you do not have your own caption file and want to enable YouTube's automatic captions for your video, you can follow these instructions.

Upload Video to YouTube

You may visit YouTube's webpage to use automatic captioning.

Go to YouTube and sign in using your ECC student email account.
On the left side of YouTube, click on "Your Videos."
On the top of the screen for YouTube, click on the “Create” icon with the plus symbol.
Select “Upload videos.”
Find and select the video file on your computer.
Depending on the length of the video, YouTube will upload it in several minutes to one hour.
While YouTube is uploading the video, you can scroll down and click on “More Options.”
Under “Audience,” there is a required question, “Is this video made for kids?” Click on either “Yes, it's made for kids” or "No, it's not made for kids."
Select “More Options.”
Under “Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC),” select the video language. Select the caption certification: "This content has never aired on television in the U.S."
Select other preferences of interest, such as “Comments and ratings.”
Select “Next.”
Under “Video Elements,” add information as desired.
Under “Visibility,” select “Private,” “Unlisted,” or “Public.”
Click “Save.”
Wait several minutes to 1 hour for the video to finish processing and be uploaded to YouTube.
After the video is processed and uploaded to YouTube, wait an additional several minutes to 1 hour for the automatic captions feature to become available, depending on the length of the video. Proceed to the instructions on how to edit YouTube's automatic captions.
It is important to note that if you use YouTube's video editor to trim your video, you should first trim the video and then follow the steps to edit YouTube's automatic captions. This ensures that the captions will sync with the spoken word in the video.

Edit YouTube's Automatic Captions

In the “YouTube Studio,” select “Subtitles.”
Select the video.
Click on “Duplicate and Edit.”
In the text boxes, correct any misspellings.
Once you are done editing the captions, select the button for “Publish."
Your video will be on the left-hand side. You can click on the video, which will open it on YouTube.
You will see the automatic captions when you click on the CC button.

Alternatively, you can watch this video on how to enable YouTube automatic captions.

YouTube and Caption Files

Instructions

If you already have your own caption or subtitle file from Zoom, a video platform, a subtitle generator tool, or a third-party captioning tool or service, you can follow these instructions on how to upload your video and the caption file to YouTube.

Upload Video to YouTube

You may visit YouTube's webpage on adding your own closed captions.

Go to YouTube and sign in using your ECC student email account.
On the left side of YouTube, click on "Your Videos."
On the top of the screen for YouTube, click on the “Create” icon with the plus symbol.
Select “Upload videos.”
Find and select the video file on your computer.
Depending on the length of the video, YouTube will upload it in several minutes to one hour.
While YouTube is uploading the video, you can scroll down and click on “More Options.”
Under “Audience,” there is a required question, “Is this video made for kids?” Click on either “Yes, it's made for kids” or "No, it's not made for kids."
Select “More Options.”
Under “Language and captions certification,” click on “Upload Subtitles/CC.”
Select other preferences of interest, such as “Comments and ratings.”
Click “Next.”
Under “Video elements” and “Add subtitles,” click on “Add.”
Click on “Upload file.”
Select either “With timing” or “Without timing.”
Select “Continue.”
Browse your computer for the caption file to upload. The caption file will typically be saved as a .vtt or .srt file. Visit YouTube's webpage for supported subtitle and closed caption files.
1. If you recorded your video in Zoom, you can download and save the audio transcript file or closed caption file to your local computer.
2. You can open the audio transcript file or closed caption file in Notepad.
3. You can copy the text in Notepad and paste it into Microsoft Word to use the Find/Replace feature, Spell Check, and Grammar Check. Do not change formatting, such as line spacing.
4. Copy the edited text from Microsoft Word and paste the edited text back into Notepad.
5. Save the edited text file in Notepad.
6. Upload the edited text file into YouTube.
Select “Next.”
Under “Visibility,” select “Private,” “Unlisted,” or “Public.”

Alternatively, you can watch this video on how to upload caption file.

Zoom’s Live Automatic Captions

Zoom has released a great feature to increase accessibility—live automatic captions!

Through this new feature, Zoom participants can view automatically generated captions and a transcript of the spoken word during live Zoom meetings.

Captions enable a more inclusive and accessible online meeting experience for students, employees, and community members, including those with disabilities, those watching the Zoom meeting in a noisy environment (e.g., while riding public transportation), those who need to turn down the volume on their device (e.g., to avoid waking family members or roommates who are sleeping), and many others!

Instructions on Enabling Live Automatic Captions in Zoom

Previously, all Elgin Community College (ECC) employees needed to go to their Zoom settings to enable the live automatic closed captioning in their Zoom account.

ECC employees no longer need to enable this setting because the ECC Information Technology (IT) department has made it the default.

However, at the start of each meeting, the Zoom host must turn on the captions for that specific meeting.

Only the Zoom host can turn on the captions at the start of the meeting.

Please ensure that you are logged into your Zoom account through ECC.
At the start of the Zoom meeting:
1. Click on the CC button.
2. Under Live Transcript, click on Enable Auto-Transcription.

You can also watch this video to learn how to turn on Zoom's automatic live captions.

View the Live Automatic Captions in Zoom

If the Zoom host has enabled the live automatic captions and transcription, the Zoom attendees can follow these steps to view the captions and transcription:

Click on the CC button to view the subtitles.
Click on the arrow next to CC.
Click on "View Full Transcript" if you want to see the transcript on the right-hand side of your screen.
Click on "Subtitle Settings." You can adjust the size of the captions from Small to Large. After you make your selection, click on the X on the top right-hand side of your dialog box.
To move the captions, move your cursor over the captions, and you will see an icon of a hand. Click and hold to drag the captions to a place on the screen that you prefer.

Zoom’s Audio Transcription of Recordings

To maximize the accessibility of Zoom recordings, Zoom implemented its audio transcription feature. By enabling and editing the Zoom audio transcription, Zoom hosts can create accessible Zoom recordings for their viewers.

Through this feature, students, employees, and community members can read the closed captions and a transcript while watching the Zoom recordings. Closed captioning removes barriers experienced by various viewers, including people with disabilities, English language learners, those watching the recording in a noisy setting, and many others.

Zoom's live automatic captions provide greater accessibility to live Zoom meetings, and Zoom's audio transcription enables access to closed captioning for Zoom recordings.

Instructions on Enabling Audio Transcription of Recordings in Zoom:

As a Zoom host, here is how to enable the audio transcription of your Zoom recordings before setting up the meeting:

Go to “Settings.”
On the top of the screen, click on “Recording.”
Ensure that the “Cloud recording” toggle is turned on.
Under “Advanced cloud recording settings,” check the box next to “Audio transcript.”
For the setting on “Viewers can see the transcript,” use the toggle to turn on the feature.

Instructions on Editing the Audio Transcription

After the Zoom meeting, you will receive two emails from Zoom. The first email will notify you that your Zoom recording is ready for viewing, and the second email will notify you that your audio transcript is available. Please note that depending on the length of the Zoom recording, it may take a few hours to a few days for your Zoom audio transcription to become available.

Once you receive the second email from Zoom regarding completing your audio transcript, it is important to edit the transcript to ensure accurate captions.

Log into your Zoom account and click “Recordings” on the left.
Check the box next to the Zoom recording, and click on the title of the Zoom meeting.
Click the play icon in the recording.
Click on the CC button at the bottom of the video screen to view the transcript on the right side of the video.
Scroll up and down through the transcript. If there are any errors in the transcript, hover over the text and click the pencil icon to edit.
Edit any errors and click on the checkmark when completed.
When you're done editing the transcript, click on the Zoom meeting title at the top of the screen.
To share your Zoom recording along with the transcript, click the “Share” button.
Verify that the “Viewers can see transcript” setting is turned on.
Click the “Copy Sharing Information” button, click the “Done” button, and paste the text into your email to send to viewers.

Instructions on Viewing the Audio Transcript of the Zoom Recording:

Here is how your students, employees, and/or community members may view the closed captioning and audio transcript of the Zoom recording:

The audio transcript will appear on the left-hand side of the viewers' screen.
The viewer should click the CC button at the bottom of the video screen and select “Audio Transcript.”
The view may also search for specific terms within the transcript.

Resources

Top 10 Accessibility Tips - PDF