Term: Subtitles

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Term: Subtitles

Definition:

Timed text of video dialog that is usually written in a language other than the language of the sound essence. Subtitles are designed for hearing viewers who do not understand the language being spoken in the video and do not indicate audio information important to understanding the program. Subtitles rarely identify speakers or nonverbal sounds such as music and sound effects. From a technical perspective, subtitles can be delivered as closed or open captions.

Important for accessibility purposes is that according to Section508, subtitles are not an acceptable method for conforming with the synchronized media standards. For more information, see Create Accessible Synchronized Media Content | Section508.gov.

For more information about WCAG compliance for subtitles, see Captions/Subtitles | Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) | W3C. WCAG does not have separate success criteria for closed captions, open captions and subtitles.

Category:

Video

Resource:

Section508 Create Accessible Synchronized Media Content
https://www.section508.gov/create/synchronized-media/

See also:

Open captions; Closed captions