Plain answers
What is the difference between audio description and captions?
They work in opposite directions. Captions turn the soundtrack into text for viewers who cannot hear it. Audio description turns the picture into speech for viewers who cannot see it.
| Captions | Audio description | |
|---|---|---|
| For | Deaf and hard of hearing viewers | Blind and low-vision viewers |
| What it carries | Dialogue, and in SDH the sounds too | Action, faces, settings and on-screen text |
| How you get it | Text on screen | A narrated soundtrack |
| WCAG 2.1, prerecorded video | Level A, SC 1.2.2 | Level AA, SC 1.2.5 |
A transcript is a third thing, and sometimes it is enough: see is a transcript enough for WCAG?
Who needs captions, and who needs audio description?
Captions are for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing; audio description is for viewers who are blind or have low vision. Many films need both.
Does WCAG require both?
For prerecorded video, captions are level A (success criterion 1.2.2) and audio description is level AA (1.2.5), so a site that aims for AA needs both.
What are SDH captions?
Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing: captions that include the sounds as well as the words, such as a door slamming or music starting.
Getting both
We write and record audio description from $6.50 a minute of finished runtime, and add captions and SDH for $1.00 a minute more. The rates are published. Or hear the result first: our described films are free to watch.
Last checked 24 October 2026. The WCAG levels cited are those of WCAG 2.1, in force as of the date above.