YouTube opens audio-description tracks to more gaming channels
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In short
More YouTube channels can now add audio description to a game trailer or another video as a selectable audio track. Viewers no longer have to find a separate audio-described version.
Can I Play That? reports that the feature has opened to channels with access to YouTube’s advanced features. A game studio can add the track to an existing video, keeping views, comments, and links together rather than dividing them between the original and a separate audio-described upload.
YouTube’s own instructions place the upload controls under Languages in YouTube Studio. Before adding audio description, the video must have an original or dubbed audio track in the same language. The new file must use a supported audio format and be roughly the same length as the video.
Viewers find the track in Settings under audio-track selection, where it may appear as “English descriptive.” Can I Play That? found no clear indicator that tells viewers in advance when a video has audio description. YouTube’s help page also says the feature may not be available to every creator and links access to multi-language audio.
Sources: YouTube’s official instructions for adding audio descriptions and Can I Play That?’s report on the wider availability.