WCAG 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3 · Media

A WordPress Video Captions Plugin for Council Meetings and Training Videos

A council meeting recording goes up with no captions and a deaf resident has no way to know what was discussed or voted on. Caption & Transcript Manager checks every video and audio embed for captions or a transcript before it can go live, and flags what’s already published without either.

Video Is the Fastest-Growing Content Type on Government Sites. Captions Haven’t Kept Up.

Council meetings, training videos, and public service announcements increasingly get posted as embedded YouTube or Vimeo video. Auto-generated captions from the platform are a starting point, not a compliant one, since they routinely misread names, acronyms, and technical terms specific to local government and education.

This plugin pairs well with WPPersona's built-in accessibility compliance if your agency runs on the WPPersona CMS, and installs standalone on any WordPress 6.0+ site.

1.2.2

WCAG success criterion requiring captions for all prerecorded audio content in synchronized media

Accessibility Features

What Caption & Transcript Manager Actually Checks

Every feature below maps to a specific WCAG 2.1 success criterion, not a vague accessibility claim. Here's exactly what changes on your site.

WCAG 1.2.2 (Level A)

Publish-time caption check

When an editor embeds a video block, the plugin checks the source for an existing caption track and warns before the page can be published without one.

WCAG 1.2.1 (Level A)

Transcript field for audio and video

A required transcript field appears alongside audio and video embeds, giving screen reader users and anyone who can’t play media a full text alternative.

WCAG 1.2.2 (Level A)

Auto-caption quality flagging

Detects when a video is relying on unedited platform auto-captions and flags it for review, since auto-captions alone generally don’t meet the accuracy WCAG expects.

WCAG 1.2.5 (Level AA)

Audio description flagging for complex video

Videos with meaningful visual-only content, like a sign-language interpreter panel or a slide presentation, are flagged as candidates needing an audio description track.

WCAG 1.2.1, 1.2.2

Site-wide media accessibility audit

A dashboard lists every video and audio embed already published on the site, showing which have verified captions, which rely on auto-captions only, and which have none.

How It Works

From Install to Fixed, in Four Steps

01

Audit existing media embeds

The plugin scans published pages for YouTube, Vimeo, and self-hosted video and audio, checking each for caption tracks and transcripts.

02

Prioritize by reach

Meeting recordings and high-traffic training videos get flagged first, so the most-viewed content gets fixed before archive footage.

03

Add captions and transcripts

Upload a corrected caption file or transcript directly, or route the video to a caption vendor through the plugin’s built-in request workflow.

04

Enforce on new uploads

Turn on the publish gate so no new video or audio embed goes live without a caption track or transcript already attached.

We posted two years of council meetings with auto-captions nobody had checked. A resident pointed out her own name was captioned wrong in a public comment she gave. We started reviewing every caption after that.

City Clerk, Mid-Size City Government

Common Questions About Caption & Transcript Manager

Do YouTube’s automatic captions meet WCAG requirements?

Generally not on their own. WCAG 1.2.2 expects captions to accurately convey the audio content, and unedited auto-captions routinely miss names, technical terms, and speaker changes. They’re a useful starting draft, not a finished compliant caption track.

What’s the difference between a caption and a transcript?

Captions are synchronized text displayed on screen during playback, required by WCAG 1.2.2 for prerecorded video. A transcript is a separate text document with the full spoken content, required by WCAG 1.2.1 for prerecorded audio-only content and useful as a standalone alternative for any media.

Does live-streamed content need captions too?

Live audio and video content falls under WCAG 1.2.4 at Level AA, a stricter criterion requiring real-time captions. Many agencies handle this with a live captioning service during the stream and then replace it with a corrected caption file before archiving the recording.

Get Started

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There's no self-serve checkout yet. Submit the form and our team confirms your license tier, sends pricing, and gets you installation instructions within 1 business day.

  • WordPress 6.0+, PHP 7.4+, supports YouTube, Vimeo, and self-hosted media
  • License covers updates and support for 12 months

Need more than one? See the full Accessibility Suite bundle.

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