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1.4.2 Audio Control (A)

Avoid any autoplaying audio or allow users to turn it off.

What WCAG says:

If any audio on a Web page plays automatically for more than 3 seconds, either a mechanism is available to pause or stop the audio, or a mechanism is available to control audio volume independently from the overall system volume level.

Check the official guidance for Understanding 1.4.2 Audio Control

What this means

A page must not play audio content automatically for more than 3 seconds unless there’s a way to stop the audio or reduce the volume. This must be independent of the system volume.

Why it matters

People who use screen readers need to be able to navigate by listening. Audio that starts automatically could prevent them from navigating a page. It’s also distracting, particularly for some neurodivergent people.

How to check

Make sure your volume is not muted, then reload the page.

If there is any sound for longer than 3 seconds, check there is an accessible way to either:

  • pause and resume it
  • stop it
  • change and mute its volume independently of the system’s volume

How to test in detail for 1.4.2 Success Criterion

Common mistakes

Audio content plays for 30 seconds

For example, a festival website plays background music on the homepage for a short period to encourage people to check out the lineup.

This would fail as someone using a screen reader would not be able to listen to their screen reader voice to navigate around the page to discover the lineup.

Adding audio controls at the top of the page so they’re easy to find would help fix this.

Good examples

Predictable controls

Like the bad example, the audio content plays when the festival page loads. However, on this page there are audio controls which:

  • are at the top of the page
  • can be used solely with a keyboard (no mouse)
  • can be used with conventional keyboard commands

A way to pause or stop audio

When someone’s keyboard focus is on the audio controls, the spacebar stops the audio.

A way to control the audio volume

When someone’s keyboard focus is on the volume controls, the arrow keys control volume.

These are accessible options which would pass because a screen reader user would be able to intuitively navigate to the audio controls to pause or stop the audio or adjust the volume.

Non-interference

This is one of four special criteria which all content on a page needs to meet, even if it is normally out of scope of an audit (such as adverts or other third party content). These are referred to as “non-interference” criteria because content must not interfere with the rest of the page. The official standard has more detail about non-interference.

  • 2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap (A) is a non-interference criterion which requires a way for someone using a keyboard to navigate a page to be able to navigate away from components.
  • 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (A) is a non-interference criterion which requires a way to stop content that updates frequently, blinks or scrolls automatically.
  • 2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold (A) is a non-interference criterion in which a page must not contain content that flashes more than three times a second.

Last updated

This page was last updated in October 2026.