What information should you include in your transcript?
Transcripts provide a text version of information in your audio or video content:
- A basic transcript should contain a text version of all the important audio information, including both speech and non-speech audio. You should write a basic transcript for audio-only media and videos with audio content.
- A descriptive transcript should also contain a text version of all the important visual information in your multimedia. To meet the WCAG Level AA standard, a descriptive transcript is not a replacement for having audio descriptions in your video.
Any text included in your captions should be included in your transcript. Provide a copy of your transcript (either on the web page itself or as a linked document) in close proximity to your audio or video content.
Formatting your Basic Transcript
- Create a Word document (.docx), plain text file (.txt), or provide your transcript directly in the HTML of your web page.
- Identify speakers or a change of speaker.
- Use their name if you know it or use an identifier like "Student 1".
- Separate the speaker name from the text with a colon (:).
- Indicate sounds using square brackets.
- For example: [students laughing].
- For music, provide the name of the song or the lyrics.
Sample Transcript Formatting
Instructor: Hi, class. Today we’ll be moving on to the next chapter. We've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's go ahead and turn to page—
[student coughs]
Student: Excuse me, can I ask about the homework first?
Instructor: Sure, what’s your question?