ACT Rule 80f0bf · composite · proposed
Audio or video element avoids automatically playing audio
Sound that starts by itself and keeps going drowns out a screen reader, because the screen reader is a voice coming out of the same speakers. This composite rule passes when audio that plays automatically either stops within three seconds or comes with a control to turn it off.
A tool can decide this one on its own, which is why it turns up in scanner output. The rule is proposed, so it has not yet been implemented in full by a tool and reviewed by a W3C working group, and the wording can still change.
What passing this rule proves
When this rule fails, 1.4.2 Audio Control is not satisfied, and that half is certain. When it passes, W3C's own outcome mapping says the criterion still needs further testing. So a green result here is evidence that one specific thing is not broken, and it is the answer W3C gives on 59 of its 87 live rules.
The gap is spelled out on the rule page. Whatever control you provide has itself to meet every Level A criterion, and none of that is checked here. So a mute button a keyboard cannot reach passes this rule and fails the criterion.
The criteria this rule is a test for
These are the criteria the rule names as its own conformance requirement. Each one is a far bigger question than this rule asks, and our page for it sets out what the whole criterion covers.
- 1.4.2 Audio Control Level A
The rules this one combines
A composite rule runs no test of its own. It takes the outcomes of the atomic rules below and turns them into one answer, which is how W3C handles a criterion that can be met in more than one way. Not one of them maps to this criterion on its own.
- Audio or video element that plays automatically has a control mechanism A tool can check this
- Audio or video element that plays automatically has no audio that lasts more than 3 seconds A tool can check this
The normative rule text lives at W3C
What the rule applies to, and exactly what it expects, is published by W3C and can change. We link to it rather than restate it, so nothing here can quietly fall out of date against the source. Read rule 80f0bf at W3C.
Fixes that satisfy it
If this rule fails on your site, these are the techniques that put it right.
All 87 ACT rules are grouped by the criteria they test, and 24 of them decide nothing about WCAG on their own. Run a free scan to see which of these your own pages trip.