Check captions on embedded video

Why it matters

Videos embedded from YouTube, Vimeo and similar services keep their captions on the service. Automatic captions often mishear names and terms, so someone should confirm they exist and are accurate.

Who it affects: Deaf and hard-of-hearing people, screen reader users whose speech is drowned out by audio, and people with vestibular or attention disorders affected by motion.

What Lumtera flags

Every video embed and video iframe, so the author can confirm captions on the hosting service.

Check ID video-embed-captions — use it to filter the content report or with wp lumtera issues --rule.

How to fix it in WordPress

Open the video on the service it is hosted on and check it has accurate captions (on YouTube: YouTube Studio > Subtitles; on Vimeo: the video's Distribution > Subtitles). Automatic captions often mishear names and terms, so review and correct them. If the video has no speech or important sounds, or captions are already shown in the picture, dismiss this item. Separately, if important information is only shown visually, WCAG 1.2.5 (AA) also asks for audio description or a text alternative.

Example

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/abc123" title="Product tour"></iframe>

<!-- Same embed, after checking YouTube Studio → Subtitles has reviewed English captions -->

How to check your fix

1. Update the post. The issue disappears from the Accessibility sidebar on the next check, and from the site report on the next scan.
2. Play the page with the sound off, then with a screen reader on. Speech should be captioned, nothing should play sound by itself, and anything that moves should be stoppable.