Captions

Detailed explanation

Closed captions can be turned on or off by the viewer; open captions are baked into the video. WCAG 2.1 SC 1.2.2 (Captions, Prerecorded) at Level A requires captions on all prerecorded audio in synchronized media. SC 1.2.4 at Level AA extends this to live audio.

Automatically generated captions can contain omissions, timing errors, speaker mistakes, and incorrect names. Captions should be reviewed by a person against the actual media rather than accepted from a platform accuracy claim.

How this applies to Shopify stores

Caption support depends on how a Shopify theme or embedded player renders the media. AccessComply can surface reached video elements without a detectable captions track for review, but embedded-player settings, caption quality, and equivalent content require manual verification.

What merchants should check next

Treat this term as a practical audit prompt, not just a definition. Check the storefront pages where the concept shows up in real customer journeys: product discovery, add-to-cart, cart drawer, checkout handoff, account login, and support contact flows. If the issue affects code, verify the rendered HTML and computed browser output after the theme change. If it affects copy or media, keep the merchant-facing wording accurate and easy to maintain.

Primary source: w3.org