Captions vs Transcripts 2026 | When You Need Each for WCAG 2.2 and the EAA

Last updated: 2026-05-04

Captions and transcripts are often discussed together as if they were interchangeable, but they serve different users, satisfy different WCAG 2.2 success criteria, and carry different legal and editorial workloads. Captions are time-synchronized text that appears on the video as it plays, primarily for users who are Deaf or hard of hearing and for anyone watching in a sound-off context like an open-plan office or a noisy commute. Transcripts are static text equivalents of the audio (and sometimes the visual) content of a media file, primarily for users who navigate by reading rather than watching, including users who are Deafblind using a refreshable braille display, users with cognitive disabilities who read at their own pace, and search engines that need crawlable content. The European Accessibility Act, the 2024 DOJ Title II rule, AODA, and Section 508 all reference WCAG 2.2 Level AA, which means most public sector and consumer-facing sites need captions on prerecorded video and live audio, while transcripts are required for prerecorded audio-only content. Many teams stop there and miss real user benefit and search visibility by skipping transcripts on video. This comparison breaks down what each format actually delivers, who it serves, when it is legally required, and a practical workflow for producing both without doubling production cost. None of this is legal advice; consult a qualified attorney for your jurisdiction.

At a Glance

Feature Captions Transcripts
WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) Level A; 1.2.4 Captions (Live) Level AA 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded) Level A; 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative Level A
Primary user group served Deaf and hard-of-hearing users; sound-off viewers Deafblind users; users with cognitive disabilities; readers and skimmers
Format WebVTT or SRT sidecar file, or burned-in text On-page HTML, downloadable PDF or DOCX, or both
Required for prerecorded video with audio Yes (Level A) Not strictly required by WCAG if captions and audio description are present, but strongly recommended for SEO and user benefit
Required for prerecorded audio-only (podcast) Not applicable Yes (Level A)
Required for live audio Yes (Level AA) A post-event transcript is often the most practical way to satisfy 1.2.4 when live captioning fails
Auto-generated quality acceptable Almost never without human review Almost never without human review
SEO impact Indirect; search engines index some caption tracks but not reliably Direct and significant; transcripts are crawlable text
Production cost (typical) $1-$3 per minute for human captioning $1-$2.50 per minute for human transcription

Captions

Type: Time-synchronized text overlay on video, typically delivered as a sidecar file (WebVTT, SRT) or burned in Pricing: Auto-captioning often free via YouTube or Otter; human captioning $1-$3 per minute; live captioning $90-$300/hour Best for: All prerecorded video with audio, all live audio (such as webinars and live streams), and any video that will be embedded on social platforms where most playback happens with sound off.

Pros

  • Required by WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.2.2 for all prerecorded video with audio at Level A, which is the floor of every major accessibility law
  • Serve Deaf and hard-of-hearing users in real time as they watch, including children, older adults, and the roughly 15 percent of the global population with some degree of hearing loss
  • Improve completion rate and watch time in sound-off contexts, which is most autoplay video on social platforms and most workplace video consumption
  • Native player support for closed captions means users can choose font size, color, and background, and can turn captions off when they are not needed

Cons

  • Auto-generated captions from speech recognition tools regularly get names, technical terms, brand names, and homophones wrong, which can be embarrassing or actively misleading
  • Live captioning at acceptable accuracy (95 percent or higher) requires either a human captioner or a high-quality real-time speech-to-text service, which adds meaningful cost
  • Burned-in captions cannot be turned off or styled by the user, which violates the customization principle and creates accessibility issues for low-vision users
  • Captions alone do not satisfy WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.2.3 (Audio Description) for prerecorded video where information is conveyed visually but not spoken

Transcripts

Type: Static text equivalent of audio (and optionally visual) content, delivered as on-page text or a downloadable file Pricing: Auto transcription typically $0-$10 per hour of audio; human transcription $1-$2.50 per minute; cleaned transcripts with speaker labels and timestamps slightly more Best for: All prerecorded audio-only content (podcasts, interviews, audiobooks), all video that you want indexed in search, and any media where a Deafblind user might reasonably want access.

Pros

  • Required by WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.2.1 for prerecorded audio-only content (such as podcasts) at Level A, which is the floor of every major accessibility law
  • Serve Deafblind users (who cannot watch video or hear audio) by allowing access via refreshable braille displays or screen readers
  • Allow users with cognitive disabilities, attention disorders, or non-native speakers to read at their own pace, search the content, and copy quotes
  • Indexable by search engines, which is the single biggest organic traffic improvement most podcast and video publishers can make

Cons

  • Producing a clean, searchable transcript with speaker labels and corrected technical terms takes meaningful editorial time, even when starting from an auto-transcribed draft
  • Transcripts are not required by WCAG 2.2 for video that already has captions (WCAG considers captions sufficient at Level A and AA for video), so many teams skip them despite the user and SEO benefit
  • Long transcripts on a page need clear structure (headings, timestamps, in-page navigation) to be usable, which adds editorial effort beyond pasting a wall of text
  • Hosted transcript pages sometimes break when video is updated or replaced, leaving stale transcripts that mislead users and search engines

Our Verdict

Captions and transcripts are not a choose-one decision. Every prerecorded video with audio needs captions; every prerecorded audio-only file needs a transcript; live audio needs both live captions and a posted transcript afterward. The lowest-cost workflow that produces both is to caption the video first using a human captioner or a heavily reviewed auto-caption draft, then use the corrected caption file as the basis for a cleaned transcript with speaker labels, timestamps, and headings every two or three minutes. This pattern adds modest editorial overhead while satisfying WCAG 2.2 1.2.1, 1.2.2, and 1.2.4, providing real value to Deaf, Deafblind, cognitive-disability, and sound-off users, and producing crawlable text that meaningfully improves search visibility for podcast and video content. Avoid auto-generated captions or transcripts published without review - they get names, technical terms, and homophones wrong often enough to embarrass the brand and mislead users. None of this is legal advice; consult a qualified attorney for your jurisdiction.

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