Make Your Videos Accessible with My Media

✅ An accessible video includes:

• Accurate Captions – Automatically-generated captions are a good start, but you must review and edit auto captions to ensure:
  • Spelling, punctuation, etc. is accurate.
  • Text matches spoken words and relevant sounds.
  • Text is correctly synchronized with the audio and video.
• Clear Visuals and Contrast –  Visuals such as PowerPoint slides in your video should: 

  • Use high contrast between text and background (e.g., dark text on a light background).

  • Use at least 18 pt text on PowerPoint slides so that it’s readable.

  • Avoid flashing, blinking, or low-contrast text or graphics.

• Descriptive Narration – Important visuals or on-screen actions are described aloud so that students who can’t see the screen still get the same information.

Tip:  My Media automatically generates a transcript from your captions. Students can read or download a transcript directly from the My Media video player. 

🚫 A video is inaccessible if one or more of the following are true:

• Video has missing or inaccurate captions.
• Video was uploaded and stored in Canvas Files instead of My Media (Canvas videos can’t be captioned.)
• Video contains important visuals that do not have an audio description. (E.g., In a lecture video, the instructor refers to a chart on a PowerPoint slide but does not describe what information the chart contains.)
• Video contains important visuals that have low contrast colors or small text.
• Video has flashing or blinking elements.

✅ My Media (Kaltura)

My Media is the correct place to store all your videos.

My Media is the streaming video server that is integrated with Canvas.

My Media is the right place to store your videos because:

• My Media automatically generates captions for videos and allows you to edit captions to meet accessibility standards. 

• My Media videos have no impact on your course’s storage quota.

🚫 Canvas Course Files 

The Files area in your Canvas course is an incorrect place to store videos. 

Video files should not be stored as Canvas course files because: 

• They cannot be captioned, so they are not accessible to all students.

• They take up your limited course file storage space in Canvas.

Important:  Any video files stored in your Canvas course’s Files area must be moved to My Media so they can stream properly and include captions for accessibility. For more information, see Move Your Videos to My Media. 

To Do Right Now

1. ✅ Move your videos to My Media – Make sure your video files are stored in My Media and not in Canvas. See Move Your Videos to My Media.

2. ✅ Review and edit captions for accuracy – Review and edit your My Media video captions to ensure the spelling, punctuation, timing, etc. is accurate. See Edit Video Captions for Accessibility.

To Do in the Future

1. ✅ Update PowerPoints and other visuals, if necessary – If you review your video and determine that it does not have clear visuals and high contrast colors, redo it now if you have time, or put it on your schedule as something to redo in the near future. See Accessibility and Universal Design for PowerPoint.  
2. ✅ Redo video to include descriptive narration, if necessary – If you review your video and determine that it has important visuals or on-screen actions that are not described aloud (so that students who can’t see the screen still get the same information), redo it now if you have time, or put it on your schedule as something to redo in the near future. (E.g., In a lecture video, if you refer to a chart on a PowerPoint slide, you must describe what information the chart contains.) 

TidyUp is a cleanup tool inside Canvas that helps instructors declutter and streamline their Canvas courses by removing unused or duplicate files. To use TidyUP, you must first enable it in your Canvas course. 

Video Procedure – Enable TidyUP

Written Procedure – Enable TidyUP

1. In your Canvas course, go to Settings.
2. Then select Navigation.
   
   
3. Scroll down the page, and locate TidyUP.
4. Click the kebab to the right of TidyUP.
5. Select Enable.
6. Click the Save button. 
   
   
   
   TidyUp will now appear in your course's left-hand navigation. 
   
   

For more information, go to TidyUP Resources.

Once you have enabled TidyUP in your Canvas course, you can use it to scan for video files stored in the course.

Video Procedure – Find Video Files in Canvas with TidyUP

Written Procedure – Find Video Files in Canvas with TidyUP

1. Once TidyUP is enabled in your Canvas course, click TidyUP in the course menu.
2. Click Authorize to give TidyUp access to your course.
3. Under the Scan Course button, click Custom. 
4. Uncheck all boxes except Video (MP4, MOV, etc.). 

5. Click the Scan Course button to scan your video content.

6. Once the scan is complete, go to the Files tab.

7. Do one of the following:
   • If no video files appear in the TidyUP search, you're done! This means you don't have video files in Canvas that you need to move. Skip to Upload Video Files to My Media or Edit Video Captions for Accessibility to learn how to upload videos and edit their captions.
   • If video files appeared in the TidyUP search, proceed to the next step.
8. Review the list of video files:

• • Check when each video file was last updated.
  • Look in the Used In column to determine where each video file is used in your course content. If the Used In column in blank for a video, it means the video is in the Canvas Files area but is not linked or embedded anywhere in your Canvas class.

Now that you've identified the video files stored in your Canvas course, use TidyUP to download them all at once. This saves time and helps you prepare for uploading to My Media in the next step.

Video Procedure – Download Video Files with TidyUP

Written Procedure – Download Video Files with TidyUP

1. In TidyUP, review the list of videos and determine which files you want to download.

2. Check the box next to each video file you want to download.

3. Click the Download Selected button at the bottom of the page.

4. Click the Download button.

5. Select where you want to save the files on your computer, and click Save.

6. Your browser will download a ZIP file containing all the selected videos.

7. Locate the ZIP file on your computer and extract (unzip) the contents to a folder that you can easily locate:

• • PC file extract/unzip procedures
  • Mac file extract/unzip procedures

Once you've downloaded your video files from Canvas, upload your videos (one at a time) to My Media, the streaming video server that is integrated with Canvas. 

Video Procedure – Upload Video File to My Media

Written Procedure – Upload Video File to My Media

1. In Canvas, click Account and select My Media.

Your list of My Media videos appears.

2. To upload a new video file to your account, click Add New and select Media Upload.

3. Read terms and conditions and click the "I agree to the above terms and conditions" disclaimer.

4. Click Choose a File to Upload.

5. Select the file to upload.

My Media file size upload limit -  Try to keep video files under 2 GB because the larger the file is, the longer it takes My Media to upload and process it.

Audio and video file formats you can upload to My Media - AVI, ASF, FLV, MP4, MP3, MPG, MOV, M4V, QT, M4V, WMA, WMV, and more. Click here for a full list of file formats My Media supports. 

6. Once your media uploads, do the following:

A. Name - Give the video a meaningful name. Note that this name appears to all your media's viewers/listeners.

B. Description - Optionally enter a brief description.

C. Add Collaborator button - Optionally add collaborators (for example, you might want to add co-instructors or TAs as collaborators so they can link to or embed this video in Canvas. See Kaltura - Media Collaboration: Changing media ownership, adding co-editors, co-publishers, and co-viewers.

D. Publishing Status - Leave the video status as Private. Do not change it to Public.

E. Save - Click the Save button to save your changes while your video uploads. 

 

Repeat this process for each video you want to upload to My Media.

Tip: When you upload videos to My Media. They are stored in your private My Media library. In the next steps, we'll show you how to share your videos in your Canvas class.

Now that you've uploaded all your video files to My Media, you're ready to share the videos in your Canvas course by doing one of the following:

• Add a Video Link to a Canvas Module
• Add a Video Link in the Text of a Canvas Page, Announcement, Assignment, Quiz, Discussion, etc.
• Embed a My Media Video in a Canvas Page

After uploading your videos to My Media and embedding or linking them in your course content, you can safely delete the original video files from your Canvas Files area. This frees up storage space and ensures students aren’t accessing outdated or inaccessible versions.

Video Procedure – Use TidyUP to Delete Video Files

Written Procedure – Use TidyUP to Delete Video Files

1. In your Canvas course, click TidyUP in the course menu.
2. Click Authorize to give TidyUp access to your course.
3. Under the Scan Course button, click Custom. 
4. Uncheck all boxes except Video (MP4, MOV, etc.). 
5. Click the Scan Course button to scan your video content.
6. Once the scan is complete, go to the Files tab.
7. For each video, review the Used In column to confirm the file is no longer in use (i.e., the old videos should no longer be embedded or linked in your course). If a file is marked as Used, double-check that you’ve replaced it with the My Media version before deleting.
8. In TidyUP, select the video files you want to delete by checking the boxes next to them.
9. Click Delete Selected, and then click Delete.

Important: Deleting files through TidyUP is permanent and cannot be undone. Be sure you’ve uploaded the video to My Media and linked or embedded it in your course before removing the original.

Tip: You can always download a copy of a video before deleting it

When you upload a video to My Media, machine-generated captions are automatically created and added to your video. This process may take a couple of hours.

Videos uploaded to My Media before December 1, 2021 do not include automatically-generated captions; however, you can still order machine-generated captions for My Media videos that don't have captions. See Manually Ordering Machine Captions for Older My Media Videos

Important: Machine-generated captions are not 100% accurate. To meet accessibility standards, you are responsible for reviewing and editing your video's captions for accuracy.

Tip: When you edit a My Media video's captions, the captions update wherever the video is embedded or linked.

Characteristics of Accessible Captions

Video Procedure – Review and Edit Captions in My Media

Written Procedure – Review and Edit Captions in My Media

Do the following to edit captions in My Media: