Audio Control
Tier 1 · The normative floor
Baseline compliance
What the normative text of WCAG 2.2 requires, and nothing more. Only a failure of this tier is a WCAG failure.
The bare minimum
If audio plays automatically for more than 3 seconds, there is either a way to pause or stop it, or a way to control its volume separately from the system volume. Under WCAG's non-interference requirement this applies to everything on the page, even content not relied on to meet other criteria.
Normative text
Verbatim from WCAG 2.2, W3C Recommendation 12 December 2024. Underlined terms are defined below.
Not required by the normative text
Common claims that this criterion does not support. Don't log these as WCAG failures.
- Avoiding autoplay altogether.
- Controls for audio that plays for 3 seconds or less.
Definitions used (2)
Glossary definitions are normative. Their notes are informative.
- mechanism
-
process or technique for achieving a result
Informative notes (2)
The mechanism may be explicitly provided in the content, or may be relied upon to be provided by either the platform or by user agents, including assistive technologies.
The mechanism needs to meet all success criteria for the conformance level claimed.
- paused
-
stopped by user request and not resumed until requested by user
Notes in the criterion Informative
WCAG 2.2 lists notes among its informative material, which "does not create requirements that impact a conformance claim." They help interpret the criterion but are not part of the floor.
Since any content that does not meet this success criterion can interfere with a user's ability to use the whole page, all content on the web page (whether or not it is used to meet other success criteria) must meet this success criterion. See Conformance Requirement 5: Non-Interference.
Tier 2 · The gap
Usability & user impact
Where content can meet this criterion and still make things harder for people with disabilities. These are not failures of SC 1.4.2, so raise them as usability defects. Known failures, including failures of related criteria, are listed in Tier 1.
A pause button at the bottom of the page is hard to find for screen reader users, whose speech is drowned out by the audio while they look for it.
Tier 3 · The golden path
Recommended best practice
The pattern that meets the floor, closes the gap, and avoids audit disputes. A recommendation, not a requirement.
Don't autoplay sound. If you must, start muted and put the control first in the page.
W3C's Understanding document and techniques for SC 1.4.2 ↗ are informative: sufficient techniques show ways to pass, and documented failures show common ways to fail, but neither changes what the criterion requires.
How SC 1.4.2 maps to the WCAG 3 draft
From this site's reviewed map to the WCAG 3 editor's draft. It's an interpretation: W3C has not published a mapping.
Successor provisions
From WCAG 2.2, section 5.1: “The main content of WCAG 2.2 is normative and defines requirements that impact conformance claims. Introductory material, appendices, sections marked as "non-normative", diagrams, examples, and notes are informative (non-normative). Non-normative material provides advisory information to help interpret the guidelines but does not create requirements that impact a conformance claim.”