Digital Asset Management
Video Player accessibility
Last updated: Mar-19-2025
Overview
The Cloudinary Video Player is designed to provide an inclusive video experience that meets WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an internationally recognized set of recommendations for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities. These guidelines ensure that users with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive impairments can fully engage with digital content through assistive technologies, keyboard navigation, and other accessibility-friendly enhancements.
Keyboard navigation and screen reader support
The Cloudinary Video Player is fully operable via keyboard controls, ensuring accessibility for users who rely on screen readers and keyboard navigation. Key features include:
- Tab navigation: All interactive elements, including play/pause, volume, captions, and fullscreen controls, are accessible via the Tab key.
- Clear focus indicators: Active elements have a clearly visible outline when navigated using the keyboard.
- ARIA attributes: ARIA roles and attributes are embedded in player elements to ensure compatibility with screen readers.
Closed captions and subtitles
The player supports multi-language closed captions and subtitles, which are essential for users with hearing impairments.
Features include:
- Automatic transcription & translation: Cloudinary can generate transcripts automatically and support multiple language translations.
- Support for VTT & SRT files: Upload caption files in industry-standard formats for seamless integration, alongside Cloudinary's rich transcript files.
- Customizable caption styling: Users can adjust font, color, background, and positioning of captions to enhance readability. Ensure to use colors and styles that comply with WCAG 2.1 contrast ratio requirements.
- Live streaming captions: Closed captions are supported for live stream video content via our Video Player to ensure real-time accessibility.
Chapters
To improve accessibility and navigation within videos, the Cloudinary Video Player supports video chapters, enabling users to jump to key sections quickly. This feature is beneficial for users with cognitive impairments and enhances usability for all viewers.
- Support for chapter markers: Defined chapter markers are displayed on the seek bar to indicate key sections of the video.
- Chapters button for easy navigation: A dedicated button allows users to browse and select chapters.
- VTT-based chapter support: Import chapters via WebVTT files or define them manually.
- Screen reader accessibility: Chapters are labeled appropriately, making them fully navigable via screen readers.
For more details, see Video Player Customization - Chapters.
Audio descriptions
For users with visual impairments, the Cloudinary Video Player allows integration of audio descriptions, providing spoken narration of on-screen content. Use alternate audio tracks in adaptive bitrate streaming to provide descriptive audio playback.
Adjustable playback and UI customization
The Video Player includes multiple customization options to enhance accessibility:
- Adjustable playback speed: Users can slow down or speed up video playback for better comprehension.
- High-contrast & themed UI: The player UI supports different color schemes and high-contrast modes to improve visibility.
Automatic format optimization and streaming support
The Cloudinary Video Player automatically selects the best video format and codec based on the user’s device and browser. This improves performance and ensures:
- Efficient streaming for screen readers: Adaptive bitrate streaming ensures smooth playback across different connection speeds.
- Compatibility with assistive technologies: Optimized video formats improve compatibility with screen readers and accessibility tools.