Perceivable
1.4.2 Audio Control
If audio plays on its own for more than three seconds, there must be a way to pause or stop it, or to turn it down separately from the system volume.
Who it helps
Screen reader users, whose speech output gets drowned out.
Failures we see most
- Background music that starts when the page loads
- Autoplay video with sound and no visible controls
How it gets tested
Our scanner runs this axe-core check for 1.4.2:
| Check | What it looks for |
|---|---|
no-autoplay-audio | <video> or <audio> elements must not play automatically |
Automated checks can find failures of 1.4.2, but they cannot confirm that a page passes. A specialist still reviews it by hand.
How we fix it
A specialist fixes this in your site's code or content, and we re-test the page before you sign off.
Official text: W3C, Understanding 1.4.2 Audio Control. Checks listed from axe-core 4.14.0.
Related criteria
Does your site fail 1.4.2?
Our free scan checks up to 50 of your pages and tells you which criteria fail and where.