Accessible Subtitles - A Must Have!
With the BFSG private economic actors will be obligated to ensure accessibility in Germany, by Summer 2025. Many fear a high amount of effort as well as high costs. However, accessibility brings with it multiple and sustainable benefits. Find out in this article why your videos should be accessible, how to make your videos accessible, and how alugha can support you in reaching more inclusion.
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Accessible Subtitles - A Must-Have!
Videos are very popular for sharing information. It is all the more surprising that many videos aren't already made accessible to everyone. On the internet, accessibility is still barely a thing, especially concerning multimedia content. To change this, the EU passed a guideline already in 2019, the so-called European Accessibility Act, which is meant to strengthen the rights of people with disabilities and provide for more inclusion. With the Accessibility Strengthening Act, based on the EAA, in Germany, by Summer 2025, private economic actors will be, for the first time, obligated to ensure accessibility.
Many affected by this fear a high amount of effort as well as high costs. However, accessibility brings with it multiple and sustainable benefits. Find out in this article why your videos should be accessible, how to make your videos accessible, and how alugha can support you in reaching more inclusion.
Why You Should Make Your Video Accessible
- Legal Guidelines: On June 28, 2025, the Accessibility Strengthening Act is going to take effect in Germany. For the first time, the private economy will also be obligated to ensure accessibility for their products and services. Furthermore, the European Accessibility Act was decided upon, which is meant to standardize the requirements for accessible products and services in the EU.
ℹ️ More information about the Accessibility Strengthening Act can be found in our expansive blog article about the Accessibility Strengthening Act.
- More Reach: With accessible videos, you can reach more people, and through the harmonization of the accessibility standards in the EU domestic market, within the framework of the European Accessibility Act, you can make your videos accessible to a transnational target audience.
- Societal Value: You contribute to a more inclusive society with accessible videos and increase the ability of people with disabilities to participate in society.
- You're Investing in the Future: Not just people with disabilities benefit from more accessibility, but also an increasingly aging society. The proportion of older people in Germany is going to continue to grow significantly in the coming years.
- Future Proofing: It is possible that the scope of the Accessibility Strengthening Act in Germany will be expanded, meaning that companies that act earlier than others will be better positioned.
- Competitive Edge: Aside from that, you gain a competitive edge over others through an early implementation of the accessibility standards.
Subtitles - Accessibility and More
People with limited hearing depend on an alternative to audio tracks to understand the content of videos. The provision of subtitles is the most common, efficient, and easiest method of reaching more people with your video. Subtitles are just one of many accessibility requirements for online video.
Other ways to break down barriers include audio description, alternative media (for example a script as a text or braille), sign language or simplified language.
ℹ️ In our Checklist: Digital Accessibility we have gathered all obligatory criteria for accessible videos. This way you can easily verify if your videos are accessible and how you can make them even more accessible.
Subtitles offer far more advantages than just improving the accessibility of your videos. Subtitles make your video more flexible, versatile, and more mobile:
Subtitles are suitable for, ...
- communicating video content despite missing audio.
- loud environments in which you can't hear the audio track anymore (for example without headphones, at exhibitions, on subways, airplanes, etc.)
- quiet environments, in which you can't turn on sound (for example to not disturb others, in libraries, waiting rooms, etc.)
- saving mobile data
- overcoming language barriers.
- content is easier to understand when perceived through multiple senses simultaneously - here: hearing the audio track and reading the subtitles (for example for people who can't speak the language fluently)
- with multilingual subtitles, you can reach more people regardless of their language.
- differentiating the offer.
- for some people, it is easier to read content.
- content is easier to understand when it is perceived through multiple senses at once (for example for the elderly, people with concentration issues, or cognitive disabilities)
- search engine indexing
- content in text form, such as subtitle files, can be more easily indexed by search engines.
Accessible Subtitles - This Is How It Works!
Subtitles aren't automatically subtitles. Accessible subtitles put readability first. The guidelines of the AV recommend the following:
- Synchronization with the audio
- Subtitle placement in the bottom center of the frame
- Important video content isn't covered up: Make sure your subtitles aren't covering any important information in your video. The best subtitles won't do you any good, when they themselves become a barrier.
- Appropriate duration: Your subtitles should be visible long enough to give the viewer enough time to read and comprehend them. About 1-1.5 seconds, maximum 6-7 seconds
- Keep reading speed in mind, 12-15 characters per second; 9 for children's movies; 11 for teen movies
- Number of characters: maximum 2 lines, in exceptional cases 3 are also possible
- Number of characters: maximum 42 characters per line; for teletext subtitles maximum 37 characters per line
- Speaker identification: Ideally avoid labels, uniform style, use of square or round brackets, coloring for main characters (or in case of multiple speakers)
- Minimum spacing between subtitles: 4 frames
- Dialogue: Use a hyphen at the beginning of a sentence or line to indicate a change of speaker.
- Color contrasts: 4.5:1 minimum, 7:1 even better
Depending on the country or language, the standards for accessible subtitles may differ.
Conclusion: Easily Accessible with Alugha
There are many things that have to be kept in mind when creating accessible videos and subtitles. Alugha is happy to be at your side. With our alugha dubbr you can create accessible subtitles, multilingual, and according to current standards, easily, and cost-efficiently by yourself. Or you can let us take care of the accessibility for your videos, so that you can focus on your content. Contact us for a customized solution.
Accessibility affects us all and is our responsibility as well as our opportunity. Do your part and contribute to a more inclusive society with accessible videos! Do you have questions or want to know more about accessible videos and subtitles? Then message us!
More Information on the Technical Implementation of Accessible Subtitles:
Make accessible subtitles even more efficiently thanks to the alugha dubbr!
Accessible subtitles - Diverse rules
Accessible subtitles - Back up one's rules and values
Efficient creation of accessible, multilingual subtitles - alugha
Revolution of the digital world: alugha's engagement for multilinguality and accessibility
Sources and References
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1)
