ACT Rule eac66b · composite · proposed
Video element auditory content has accessible alternative
This composite rule asks whether a video with sound has an alternative for what you hear. It combines two answers. Whether captions are available, and whether the video is itself an alternative to text already on the page. Either one is enough.
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, 1.2.2 Captions (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.
This is the rule that maps to 1.2.2, not the two rules underneath it. Nothing here reads the captions, which is the part that decides whether they help. Watch it with the sound off, which takes as long as the video and settles the question.
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.
- 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) 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.
- Video element content is media alternative for text A tool finds candidates, you decide
- Video element auditory content has captions 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 We link to it rather than restate it, so nothing here can quietly fall out of date against the source.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 eac66b 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.