YouTube accessibility upgrades include multiple audio tracks



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YouTube improves the accessibility of videos both for viewers with sight problems and those outside the English speaking world. For starters, the company is testing the ability to add multiple audio tracks to videos. This will help international viewers, of course, but it should also allow descriptive sound for people with little to no vision. This will happen in the “next few quarters,” YouTube said.

Automatic captions should also be much more common. YouTube now allows automatic live captions for all live broadcasts in English, not just those with 1,000 or more subscribers. Those live captions will be available for all 13 supported auto-caption languages ​​in the “coming months,” according to the company. Automatically translated subtitles will also reach supported languages ​​on Android and iOS later in 2021, so you won’t have to turn to your PC to make sense of a video you don’t understand.

An experiment later in 2021 will let you search for transcripts on your phone, YouTube added. A previously promised caption editor is still on track to launch in the “coming months,” giving creators the ability to delegate caption creation to someone they trust.

The improvements make sense. YouTube is increasingly dependent on a global audience for views, especially with the growth of live streaming. These adjustments ensure that more people can watch, even if a creator doesn’t have the resources to add captions on their own.

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