Video and audio on your site must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards under ADA Title II. Districts with 50,000+ students must comply by April 26, 2027; smaller districts by April 26, 2028. This article covers a four-phase process: auditing your media, understanding the requirements, fixing each media type, and verifying and maintaining your work.
💡Quick answers
- What is the ADA Title II compliance deadline for media accessibility? April 26, 2027 for districts with 50,000+ students; April 26, 2028 for smaller districts and special districts.
- What counts as "media"? Any video or audio on your site: hero area videos, Video, YouTube, and Vimeo Elements, third-party embeds (Panopto, Kaltura, Zoom recordings, and similar), podcasts and audio clips, livestreams, and autoplaying or animated background media.
- What does every prerecorded video need? Accurate synchronized captions, and an audio description (or a text alternative) when important visual information is not spoken aloud. A transcript is strongly recommended for video and required for audio-only content.
- Do auto-generated captions count? Only if they are reviewed and corrected. Raw auto-captions often misspell names, acronyms, and school terms, and do not meet the accuracy expected under WCAG.
- Can viewers control the media? They must be able to pause, stop, or mute anything that plays automatically for more than five seconds, and nothing may flash more than three times per second.
- Do livestreams need captions? Yes. Live video with audio needs real-time captions. Add accurate captions to the recording before you post it.
- Where are the steps to upload a caption file in Finalsite? In Media guide part 4: Optimizing and uploading video, Step 3.
- Which media is easiest to make compliant? The media you no longer need. Remove outdated videos before you spend time captioning them.
Video and audio bring your school or district to life, but they are only effective if everyone can use them. Without captions, a deaf or hard-of-hearing visitor misses the message entirely. Without audio description, a blind visitor misses what is happening on screen. Without pause controls, a visitor with a vestibular disorder or attention difficulty may not be able to use the page at all. It is your responsibility as a content creator to make sure that all media on your site is accessible to all users.
🚨Compliance Extension Update: ADA Title II
Per the April 2026 Department of Justice (DOJ) Interim Final Rule, compliance dates for the ADA Title II mandate have been extended by one year. All school district web content, including video and audio, must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards by these revised deadlines:
- Districts 50,000+: Must be compliant by April 26, 2027.
- Districts < 50,000 & Special Districts: Must be compliant by April 26, 2028.
To learn more about how Finalsite is helping our users reach compliance under this new timeline, check out the article, "ADA WCAG 2.1 Accessibility at Finalsite."
This guide provides a practical roadmap to audit, fix, and maintain the video and audio on your site.
In this article
- Phase 1: Audit and prioritize your media
- Phase 2: Understand the requirements
- Phase 3: Make each media type accessible
- Phase 4: Verify and maintain
Phase 1: Audit and prioritize your media
Captioning and describing media takes time and often money. Before you do any of that work, find out what you have and decide what deserves it.
- Take inventory: List every page with video or audio, including hero areas, embedded players, and linked audio files. Start with the pages that matter most: the homepage, admissions, and your most visited pages. For each item, note the media type, whether it has captions, and whether it has a transcript.
- Check whether the media is still needed: Review the Where Used status of uploaded files. If a video or audio file is outdated or rarely viewed, remove it rather than captioning it.
- Ask whether the media is the best format: If a video only reads out text, such as a slideshow of announcements, publish that text on a Composer page instead. Text is more accessible and easier to maintain than media.
- Prioritize by audience and impact: Fix media that is high-traffic, required for enrollment or safety, or featured on the homepage first.
Pro-Tip: Managing old media
The DOJ mandate applies to content that is currently "available" on your site. If your site hosts years of recorded board meetings, past graduation videos, or old podcast episodes, consider:
- Archiving: Unpublish media that is no longer needed and store it offline. Before relying on the Title II "archived web content" exception, confirm with your district's legal counsel that your content qualifies.
- Prioritizing by request: Make sure you have a clear way for visitors to ask for an accessible version of older media, and respond promptly.
- Remediation: For media that must stay public, caption it and add a transcript before the compliance deadline.
Phase 2: Understand the requirements
Use this section as your standard for any media you publish. The requirements come from WCAG 2.1 Level AA, the standard referenced by the Title II rule.
What each media type needs
| Media type | What it needs | WCAG criterion |
|---|---|---|
| Prerecorded video with audio | Synchronized captions | 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded), Level A |
| Prerecorded video with important visuals | Audio description, or visuals narrated in the main audio. A full text alternative also satisfies the Level A requirement. | 1.2.3 (Level A) and 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded), Level AA |
| Audio-only (podcasts, audio announcements) | A text transcript | 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded), Level A |
| Silent video (no audio track) | A text description or an audio track that conveys the same information | 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded), Level A |
| Livestream with audio | Real-time captions | 1.2.4 Captions (Live), Level AA |
| Anything that plays automatically | A visible way to pause, stop, or mute it. Autoplaying audio that lasts more than three seconds needs a control. | 1.4.2 Audio Control (A) and 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (A) |
| Any video or animation | Nothing that flashes more than three times in one second | 2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold, Level A |
| Any media player | Controls that work with a keyboard alone and are labeled for screen readers | 2.1.1 Keyboard (A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A) |
What makes captions, transcripts, and descriptions good
Having captions is not the same as having good captions. Use these standards when you create or review them.
- Captions: Captions must be accurate, synchronized with the audio, and complete. They should include speaker names when the speaker is not obvious, and meaningful sounds such as [applause], [music], or [bell rings]. Correct names, acronyms, and school-specific terms.
- Transcripts: A transcript is a full text version of the media. It includes everything spoken and meaningful sounds. For video, it also includes descriptions of important visuals. Transcripts are easier to search, translate, and read on any device.
- Audio description: Audio description narrates what viewers cannot learn from the soundtrack alone, such as on-screen text, actions, and scene changes. The simplest approach is to plan for it at the time of recording: have speakers say what is on screen, and read aloud any text that appears. This often removes the need for a separate described version.
- Meaningful titles: Give every embedded video a clear title describing its content, such as "Lincoln High School graduation 2026", rather than "video" or a file name.
⚠️ Auto-captions are a starting point, not a finish line
YouTube, Vimeo, and Zoom can generate captions automatically. Always review and edit them before you publish. Auto-captions frequently misspell student and staff names and miss punctuation, and an inaccurate caption can be as unhelpful as no caption at all.
Phase 3: Make each media type accessible
How you fix media depends on how it is added to your site. Select the accordion below for your media type. To find out which type you have, open the page in Composer and click the element to see its name in the element toolbar.
These video types support WebVTT (.vtt) caption files uploaded directly in Finalsite. A WebVTT file is a plain text file containing caption text along with timestamps.
- In Composer, click the element to select it, then open its settings.
- Find the captions or text track setting. [Confirm: exact tab or field name in current Composer]
- Upload your .vtt file and set the language.
- Save the element and publish the page.
- Preview the video and confirm that captions appear and match the audio.
For a hero area video that plays automatically, also confirm that visitors can pause it. [Confirm: whether the hero video displays a pause control by default] Background videos with no audio and no meaningful content should be short, non-flashing, and pausable.
Need help with the caption file?
For full steps on uploading a caption file through Resources, see Media guide part 4: Optimizing and uploading video, which also covers file specs and compression.
Captions for YouTube videos are managed in YouTube Studio, not in Finalsite. Whatever caption settings are on the video in YouTube carry through to the embed.
- Log into YouTube Studio and open the video.
- Go to Subtitles in the left menu.
- Review the auto-generated captions and correct any errors.
- Publish the captions.
- Give the video a clear, descriptive title and add a transcript or description link beneath it on your page (see the transcript options below).
- Reload your Finalsite page, play the video, and confirm the captions appear.
If your video relies on visuals, such as on-screen text or demonstrations, make sure that information is also spoken or described.
Like YouTube, Vimeo captions are managed on the Vimeo platform.
- Log into Vimeo and open the video settings.
- Go to Subtitles (under the Distribution or Accessibility tab, depending on your Vimeo plan).
- Upload a .vtt, .srt, or .dfxp caption file.
- Set a default language so captions load automatically when the video plays.
- Save and verify on your Finalsite page.
Embed Elements contain raw HTML, typically an iframe pasted from a video or media platform. The fix depends on the source.
-
YouTube iframes: add
cc_load_policy=1&cc_lang_pref=ento the video URL in the iframesrcattribute to turn captions on by default. -
Vimeo iframes: add
?texttrack=ento the video URL in the iframesrc. - Other platforms (Kaltura, Brightcove, Panopto, Zoom recordings, etc.): add captions in the platform itself, then check its documentation or support team for how to display them by default in an embed.
-
Every iframe: include a descriptive
titleattribute, such astitle="Welcome message from the superintendent", so screen reader users know what the player contains.
Not sure what to change in the embed code?
If you did not create the Embed Element yourself, contact Finalsite Support rather than editing the code directly. An incorrect edit can break the video or the page layout.
Audio with no video does not need captions, but it does need a text transcript. The transcript must be available to every visitor, not only on request.
- Create a transcript that includes all speech and meaningful sounds, with speakers identified.
- Publish the transcript on the same page as the audio, or link to it directly beneath the player.
- Confirm the player can be operated by keyboard and does not start playing on its own.
Live video with audio, such as board meetings, graduations, and virtual open houses, needs real-time captions while it is happening.
- During the event: turn on live captions in your streaming platform, or hire a live captioning (CART) provider for high-stakes events.
- After the event: do not post the recording until you have replaced auto-generated captions with a corrected caption file. Live captions alone are not enough for the archived version.
- Add a transcript: publish a transcript with the recording where practical, especially for meetings.
Motion that starts on its own can be distracting or even harmful for some visitors. Follow these rules for any moving or autoplaying content, including animated GIFs and slideshows.
- Provide a pause control: any moving content that starts automatically and lasts more than five seconds must have a visible way to pause, stop, or hide it.
- Avoid autoplaying audio: audio that plays automatically for more than three seconds needs a way to pause or mute it. It is better not to autoplay audio at all.
- Never flash: content must not flash more than three times per second.
- Keep it decorative: if a background video carries real information, that information also needs to be available as text.
For help building hero areas, banners, and sliders, see Media guide part 3: Building hero areas, banners, and sliders.
Add a transcript
A transcript is a standalone text version of the media. It is required for audio-only content and strongly recommended for video. Options for publishing a transcript in Finalsite:
- A collapsible Accordion element below the media labeled "Read the transcript," which keeps the page tidy while making the text available.
- A linked document (an accessible PDF or Word file) uploaded to Resources and linked near the media. If you use a PDF, follow the guidance in Display a PDF on a website with the Resource element.
- Inline text in a Content element below the media, for short audio or video.
Phase 4: Verify and maintain
Once your media is fixed, confirm it works and set up habits that keep new media accessible.
- Publish your changes.
- Reload the published page, play the media, and confirm that captions appear, are accurate, and match the audio.
- Use only your keyboard (Tab, Enter, and Space) to start, pause, and mute the media.
- If possible, listen with your eyes closed to confirm that the audio or description conveys the key information.
Captioning and transcription tools
These tools can help you create or correct captions and transcripts:
- YouTube Studio: Free auto-captions with a built-in editor for review and correction.
- Rev, Otter.ai, and Happy Scribe: Paid transcription services that can produce transcripts and caption files, including .vtt.
- WebAIM: Captions, Transcripts, and Audio Descriptions: A free reference for the standards behind each type of media alternative.
Build accessibility into your publishing habits
- Caption before you publish: make captions part of your checklist for every new video.
- Script for accessibility: have speakers describe on-screen text and actions as they record.
- Budget for it: plan for captioning costs when you commission video or hire a livestream provider.
- Review quarterly: revisit the media on your highest-traffic pages, check that captions still play, and retire media you no longer need.
Still stuck?
If captions do not display after you have added them, or if you cannot locate the caption settings in a particular element, email accessibility@finalsite.com. Send the page URL, the media type, and a note on what you have tried. For Embed Elements with third-party platforms, include the name of the platform.