Writing Accurate Captions Without Correcting Speech
Writing Accurate Captions Without Correcting Speech records a distinct W3C-supported accessibility writing task while keeping implementation mechanics outside the writing guidance.
Caption speech accurately rather than silently correcting the speaker’s grammar, mistakes, or wording.
Key details
Important caveats
Scope Boundary
This does not require every filler sound in every context; W3C distinguishes accuracy from the separate decision about an appropriate level of transcription detail.
Further guidance
Content
Represent what is actually said and preserve meaning-bearing features such as audible mistakes or censorship instead of rewriting the speaker into polished prose.
Purpose
Faithful captions give users access to the same spoken content and communicative cues available in the audio.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Transcribing Audio to Text — W3C WAI (opens in a new tab)World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative · W3C WAI guidance for identifying speakers and representing relevant audio information in transcripts and captions.