ACT Rule c5a4ea · composite · proposed
Video element visual content has accessible alternative
Video with sound also has a picture, and somebody who cannot see it needs that picture some other way. This composite rule passes when the video has audio description, or a full transcript, or is itself an alternative to text on the page.
A tool can find the places this applies and then hand you the decision. 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, 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded) 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 criterion accepts any of the three, which is why the composite exists at all. None of the three is graded once it is found. W3C also lists 1.2.5 and 1.2.8 here as stricter siblings that some passing examples do not satisfy, so clearing this rule does not clear those.
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.
Criteria that are related but not tested here
W3C calls these secondary requirements. The rule correlates with them and was not designed to test them, so each one is either stricter than the rule or can be satisfied in ways the rule never looks at.
- 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded) Level AA
- 1.2.8 Media Alternative (Prerecorded) Level AAA
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.
- Video element visual content has audio description A tool finds candidates, you decide
- Audio and visuals of video element have transcript A tool finds candidates, you decide
- Video element content is media alternative for text A tool finds candidates, you decide
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 c5a4ea 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.