Accessibility features

Does the player work with screen readers?

Yes. Every control has a name, the player tells your screen reader what changes, and it can send the captions to your screen reader too.

• Every button, slider and menu item has a name in the player's language: English, Spanish, Portuguese or French.
• Buttons that turn something on or off, such as mute, the sign-language translation and the picture-in-picture layout, say whether they are pressed. The CC button says it in its name, for example “Captions: CC, off”.
• Sliders say their value: the seek bar says, for example, “1:23 of 4:56”, the volume “60%” and the speed “1.25×”.
• The player announces what changes, for example “Captions on, default size”, “Sign-language translation off”, “Translation background: black” or “Volume 70%”. Play and pause are not announced: the button's name changes between “Play” and “Pause”.
• The captions can go to your screen reader as well. Turn on Send captions to screen reader in Caption style: each new caption line is read once, in the language of the captions.
• When the video has a title, the player uses it as the video's name, so you hear what you are about to watch.
• Language names, such as Español in the audio-language list, are marked with their own language. So are the captions and the lines of the transcript. A screen reader that switches voices reads them in that language.
• While the video loads, the player says “Loading video”. In the transcript, a search says how many lines match.

Can I use the player without a mouse?

Yes. You can reach every control with Tab, and almost everything also has its own key.

• Tab and Shift + Tab move between the controls. A gold focus ring shows where you are. It appears when you use the keyboard, not after a mouse click.
• Menus open with Enter or Space and work with the arrow keys. Escape closes them and takes you back to their button. See menus and sliders with the keyboard.
• The keyboard shortcuts list keeps the focus inside it until you close it.
• The controls stay on screen while one of them has keyboard focus.
• Instead of dragging the translation window, press Shift + an arrow key to move it, and 0 to 9 to resize it.

Every key is on the Keyboard shortcuts page.

How does the player keep its controls easy to see?

The controls sit on a dark band, show whether they are on by their shape as well as their color, and stay on screen while you use them.

• The control bar sits on a nearly solid dark band, so its buttons and text stay readable over any picture.
• When captions are off, CC is an outlined badge. When they are on, it is a filled gold badge , which shows the caption language, such as EN, when the video has several. AD works the same way.
• The speaker button shows a slash when the sound is muted, and the line being spoken in the transcript has a gold bar on its left edge.
• While the video plays, the controls hide 3 seconds after you stop moving the mouse. They stay while the mouse rests on the control bar or one of its menus, while a control has keyboard focus, and whenever the video is paused. See Where did the controls go?
• The translation window's own buttons come back when you move the mouse over the window, touch it or reach its buttons with Tab. They stay while the mouse rests on the window.
• Captions stay on screen when the controls hide. You can make them bigger and change their color, background and font.

Does it work with Windows High Contrast and other color settings?

Yes. When you use a Windows contrast theme (High Contrast), the player uses your theme's colors instead of its own.

• Buttons, menus and the seek bar use your theme's colors. The seek bar keeps a visible track and handle.
• Buttons that are on, and the current choice in a menu, use your highlight color. When they are on, CC and AD also show a filled box.
• Captions are always solid text on a solid background with an outline, whatever caption style you chose.
• In the transcript, the current line has a thick bar on its left edge, and search matches are outlined and underlined.
• The color samples in Caption style keep their real colors, so you can still choose a caption color.
• The keyboard focus ring uses your highlight color.

The transcript page, which opens with Open in a new tab, follows your device's light or dark setting and also works with contrast themes.

Does it work when I zoom in or use a small screen?

Yes. The player fits its controls, menus and transcript to the room it has. When you zoom in, the player has less room, so it works as it does on a small screen.

• When the control bar is too narrow, the less-used controls move into ⋯ (More controls) instead of being cut off. Play, volume, the sign-language translation, the audio language, CC and full screen always stay in the bar. See small screens.
• Menus, such as the caption menu and the audio-language list, stay inside the player and scroll when they are taller than the room they have.
• The keyboard shortcuts list scrolls, and on a very narrow player each key sits above its description, in one column.
• On a narrow player, the transcript opens at the bottom of the player. When the player is also short, the transcript covers it. See open the transcript.
• The transcript page fits narrow screens without scrolling sideways.
• On small players, captions appear at the top of the video by default. You can move them to the bottom in Caption style.

Tip: Full screen gives the controls, the captions and the translation window the most room. Press F or select the full-screen button.

What does the player offer Deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers?

Sign-language translation, captions and a transcript, each of which you can adjust to the way you watch.

• The sign-language translation is on when the video opens. You can move and resize the translation window, and put the signer on a black or blue background.
• The picture-in-picture layout makes the signer the main picture.
• Some videos have more than one sign language. You see the sign-language chooser only when the video has several, and then you can choose another.
• Captions come up in your language when you turn them on, if the video has it. You can choose from five sizes and change their color, background, font and position, and the player remembers these choices.
• The transcript shows the whole text of the video. You can search it, select a line to jump there, and download or print it.

What does the player offer blind and low-vision viewers?

Audio description, other audio languages, a player that works with screen readers and the keyboard, and captions and text that you can make easier to read.

• Audio description: select AD or press D to hear the described version. You see AD only when the video has a described version in the language you are hearing. The player remembers whether you want it.
• Audio languages: select the globe button or press L to hear the video in another language. You see the globe only when the video has two or more audio languages.
• The player works with screen readers and without a mouse. See every key on the Keyboard shortcuts page.
• For low vision: bigger captions, caption colors, the Readable font and text edges, Windows contrast themes and zoom.
• The transcript page is a plain page of text that you can zoom, print or read with your screen reader.