How to offer equitable viewing experiences with YouTube Audio Description

YouTube alone sees over 2.5 billion logged-in monthly users, with viewers consuming billions of hours of video each day. But while video content is everywhere, a huge portion of it is not accessible.

Globally, more than 1.3 billion people — about 16% of the world’s population — live with a significant disability, including hundreds of millions who are blind or have low vision. For these audiences, visual-only elements in videos can create major barriers to understanding content.

That’s where audio description (AD) plays a critical role.

By incorporating YouTube audio description, organizations can create equitable viewing experiences, improve accessibility compliance, expand audience reach and strengthen overall video performance.

What is YouTube Audio Description? 

Audio description (AD) is an additional narration track that describes important visual elements in a video. Audio descriptions typically include narrations of on-screen text, scene changes, facial expressions, charts, actions and other visual cues, which are added during natural pauses in dialogue.

When applied to YouTube videos, audio description ensures that YouTube audiences who are blind or have low vision can fully understand and engage with the content.

If you’re looking for a deeper breakdown of how descriptive video works, including when to use standard audio description or extended audio description, you can explore our guide:
👉 [What Is Descriptive Video and How Can Your Business Use It?]

Why Audio Description Matters More Than Ever

1. Accessibility & Compliance

Digital accessibility is no longer optional. Organizations across education, media, enterprise and government sectors must comply with accessibility standards such as:

• ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)

• Section 508

• WCAG 2.1 / 2.2 guidelines

• International accessibility regulations

WCAG guidelines specifically recommend audio description for prerecorded video content to ensure equitable access. Failing to provide accessible video can expose organizations to compliance risk, legal complaints and reputational harm — particularly as digital accessibility enforcement continues to increase.

2. Expanding Audience Reach

Accessible video content doesn’t just support compliance – it expands your potential audience. When videos are inclusive:

• More users can engage independently

• Institutions serve diverse communities equitably

• Brands strengthen their reputation for inclusion

Accessibility improves brand trust, audience loyalty and overall user experience.

3. Improved Engagement & Discoverability

Audio description can also support:

• Stronger video comprehension

• Higher engagement and watch time

• Improved content clarity for all users

• Enhanced metadata opportunities for search

When combined with captions and transcripts, accessible video becomes more searchable – helping support SEO and video discoverability across platforms, including YouTube and Google.

How to Add Audio Description to YouTube Videos

There are several ways organizations and YouTube creators approach YouTube audio description, ranging from manually-creating audio tracks to using professional YouTube audio description services like Verbit‘s.

Option 1: Manually Created Audio Description Tracks 

Teams script and record a separate descriptive narration track and upload it as an alternative audio version. This approach can work for smaller volumes of content but becomes resource-intensive at scale. Creating audio description effectively also requires skill and knowledge, so your team would need to become well-versed on how to create audio descriptions for accessibility needs that truly improve the experience and capture all necessary visually elements correctly.

Option 2: Professional Audio Description Services

Produced by either human describers or through hybrid means, professional audio description involves careful analysis of each video to determine what needs to be described. Professional describers undergo training to learn how to provide complete, concise descriptions, so they maintain the flow of the video. 

Professional AD ensures:

• Accurate scene interpretation
• Strategic narration placement
• High-quality voice talent
• Compliance alignment

This is especially important for:

• Educational content
• Legal or training materials
• Media and entertainment
• Government communications

In order to obtain the description, users can send in files in MP4 format. Alternatively, creators can provide links to videos on platforms like YouTube or Vimeo that integrate with audio description providers like Verbit. Here are the steps involved in obtaining an audio description file:

Step 1: Send in a media file. 

Step 2: The file goes to both the transcription team and the audio description team 

Step 3: The description team creates a script that contains the visual information in the video that the dialog doesn’t adequately cover.

Step 4: Verbit adjusts the timing of the descriptions based on the timing of the captions to provide the final product.

Verbit’s integrations make the process of obtaining Vimeo and YouTube audio description particularly simple while supporting other files as well. 

Option 3: Professional AI Audio Description for Scalable Content

As video production accelerates, many organizations need faster, more scalable workflows. AI Audio Description (AI AD) leverages artificial intelligence to:

• Automatically analyze visual elements
• Generate descriptive scripts
• Insert narration efficiently
• Scale across large video libraries

AI AD significantly reduces turnaround time and cost while maintaining quality – making accessibility achievable for high-volume content strategies.

Choosing the Right Audio Description Approach

Not all audio description needs are the same. Organizations and YouTube creators often require a flexible solution that supports:

• High-stakes, compliance-sensitive content (best suited for human-crafted AD)

• Large video libraries that need scalable accessibility (AI-powered AD)

• Hybrid workflows that combine AI efficiency with human review

The right partner should offer:

• Accuracy and quality control

• Scalable workflows

• Platform compatibility (including YouTube)

• Accessibility expertise aligned with WCAG standards

How Do I Add Audio Description to My YouTube Video? 

Regardless of the method in which it was produced, once a user has obtained their video’s audio description, YouTube allows creators to upload the file to support their video content. Creators can complete this process using the following steps:

1. Navigate to YouTube’s Creator Studio. 
2. Select the Video Manager, locate the desired video and click Edit.  
3. Select Subtitles/CC.  
4. Click Add New Subtitles, select the correct language and click Upload a File.  
5. Select Subtitles File → Browse  
6. Select your audio description (.ad.vtt) file and click Upload.  
7. Label your file as “Audio Description” and click Save Changes. 

Once the user uploads the audio description they can select the option “audio description.” This method works well for standard audio description and is accessible for those viewers who use a screen reader while browsing YouTube.

Those looking for extended audio description may instead want to browse YouTube with an interactive video player like Verbit’s Smart Player. The Smart Player will pause the video content to allow time for the viewer to make it through the extended audio description without interrupting their overall viewing experience.

How Verbit Supports Audio Description at Scale

Verbit provides a full suite of professional Audio Description (AD) services, including human audio description, and AI Audio Description solutions, designed to support organizations across industries.

Verbit Audio Description (AD)

Human-crafted descriptive narration for:

• Broadcast media
• Higher education
• Enterprise video
• Corporate communications
• Training content

To ensuring clarity, compliance alignment, and high-production quality, many opt to use human or hybrid audio description services.

Learn more:
https://verbit.ai/audio-description/

Verbit AI Audio Description

AI-powered workflows that enable:

• Faster turnaround
• Cost-effective scaling
• Large library accessibility
• Automated visual analysis

AI Audio Description is ideal for organizations that produce high volumes of video and need accessibility built into their workflow from the start. Verbit’s technology is superior and can undergo quality review checks to ensure accurate outputs and support compliance needs.

Explore:
https://verbit.ai/ai-audio-description/

Audio Description as Part of a Broader Accessibility Strategy

Audio description works best when integrated into a comprehensive accessibility approach that includes:

• Closed captions
• Transcripts
• Live captioning
• Multilingual accessibility

For professionals building an accessibility roadmap or looking to deepen their knowledge of audio description, these resources provides additional guidance:
Audio Description: The Beginner’s Guide
The Benefits of Adding Audio Description to Your Videos

Future-Proofing: The Best Approach for Video Accessibility

The need for video content will only continue to grow – across social, eLearning environments, marketing campaigns, and enterprise communications. Making video accessible from the start:

• Reduces retrofitting costs
• Strengthens compliance posture
• Expands audience inclusivity
• Enhances digital experience

YouTube audio description is not just a compliance checkbox – it’s a strategic investment in equitable communication, and one that will help you effectively engage and reach greater audiences who are interested in your content, brand, or offerings.

By combining high-quality Audio Description and scalable AI Audio Description as needed, organizations can ensure their content is accessible, discoverable, and future-ready. As AI continues to improve, it’s also easier and more cost-friendly than ever before to produce audio descriptions for video content.

Reach out today to learn more about how our full suite of video engagement solutions like captioning, transcription, and audio description can help YouTube creators, content producers, and business leaders offer more equitable brand experiences to all audience members, especially the 2.2 billion people worldwide who are navigating vision loss.