More and more people are using YouTube every day. Creating accessible content with multiple audio tracks makes it easier for users who speak multiple languages or rely on descriptive audio to navigate through the content.
Add multilingual audio tracks on YouTube
YouTube has steadily added new accessibility features over the years, including automatic captioning for live content and caption editing for videos. Now, YouTube is testing multiple audio tracks on some channels, allowing creators to upload content containing different types of audio that their audience can switch between.
This change not only enables the creation of multilingual content, but also allows creators to add descriptive audio for blind or low-vision users, opening up new possibilities for interaction with YouTube.
“Multiple soundtracks provide people who are blind with easier access to described audio,” accessibility advocate Sheri Byrne-Haber told Lifewire in an email. “Without this support, people would have to go out and find a described audio soundtrack, and there was no consistent place to find it.”