WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the W3C standard that defines how to make digital content usable by people with disabilities, organized around being perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust, with conformance levels A, AA, and AAA. AA is the common legal and procurement benchmark.
For an OTT platform, WCAG shapes the apps and the player: keyboard and screen-reader navigation, sufficient contrast, caption styling and controls, and accessible UI states. It works alongside media-specific obligations (captions, audio description) that may be mandated by laws such as the ADA, the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, or the European Accessibility Act - making accessibility a compliance requirement, not just good practice.
The handbook · 7 volumes
Fora Soft Video Engineering Handbook
WCAG conformance in a streaming app comes down to captions, audio description and a player people can operate without a mouse. We wrote seven volumes covering the full video stack, and for WCAG start with Volume 4: accessibility, subtitles, loudness and audio tracks. Volume 3 adds the player side, subtitle rendering included. Written by Nikolay Sapunov, CEO at Fora Soft.
Need your streaming player and app to meet WCAG 2.1 AA?
We will run a WCAG review of your player and apps and give you a prioritized fix list covering captions, audio description and keyboard and remote control. 250+ video products shipped since 2005.
