Panopto Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to Panopto, which is a service for hosting and streaming audio and video content.   

 The service is managed by Falmouth University but is a third-party platform fully provided and hosted by Panopto. As such, certain elements of its accessibility remain outside of our control. However, we want to ensure that everyone using Panopto has a positive experience and that the service is inclusive and accessible to as many people as possible. This includes those who may experience: impaired vision, motor difficulties, cognitive impairments or learning disabilities, and deafness or impaired hearing. 

Panopto features a range of accessibility tools, including:  

  •  Variable speed playback options.  
  • Automatic captioning of videos.  
  • Full content search.  
  • Screen reader support:  
  • NVDA.  
  • VoiceOver for Mac.  
  • Keyboard access.  
  • Shortcut keys.  

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. 

How accessible this software is 

We know some parts of Panopto are not fully accessible: 

  • My Folder (Accessed by Staff and Students) 
  • Videos opened in the Panopto window (Accessed by Staff and Students) 
  • The Panopto sharing/editing functions (Accessed by Staff and Students) 
  • The Panopto Capture browser-based recording application (Accessed by Staff and Students) 

Feedback and contact information 

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us using our web form. 

Enforcement procedure 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). 

Technical information about this software’s accessibility 

Falmouth University is committed to making Panopto accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. 

Compliance status 

The software has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard. 

This software is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below. 

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations 

Some elements are using non-permitted ARIA attributes - WCAG - 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A) 
ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) must be used appropriately to enhance accessibility when HTML is not sufficient. Some ARIA attributes are used on some pages (Dashboard, Workspace, Folders in a Room, mural canvas) which are not permitted for an element's role.*   

<html> element must have a lang attribute - WCAG 3.1.1: MUST: Language of Page (Level A) 

The HTML document element must contain a valid lang attribute or must correspond to a valid lang code for multilingual screen reader users who may prefer a language other than the default.* 

Certain ARIA roles must contain particular children - WCAG - 1.3.1: MUST: Info and Relationships (Level A) 
Some ARIA parent role values applied to elements must contain specific child elements and role values to perform intended accessibility function.* 

Certain ARIA roles must be contained by particular parents - WCAG - 1.3.1: MUST: Info and Relationships (Level A) 
Certain ARIA roles must be contained by particular parent roles in order to perform the intended accessibility functions.* 

ARIA attributes must conform to valid names - WCAG - 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A) 
ARIA attributes starting with aria- must have valid names. Referring to a misspelled attribute or to one that does not exist will result in an invalid attribute and thus failure of this rule.* 

Form elements must have labels - WCAG 4.1.2: MUST: Name, Role, Value (Level A) 
Each form element must have a programmatically associated label element.* 

Elements must meet minimum colour contrast ratio thresholds - (WCAG) 2.1 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA) 
Some people with low vision experience low contrast, meaning that there are not very many bright or dark areas. Everything tends to appear about the same brightness, which makes it hard to distinguish outlines, borders, edges, and details. Text that is too close in luminance (brightness) to the background can be hard to read.* 

Select element must have an accessible name - 4.1.2: MUST: Name, Role, Value (Level A) 
Each select element must have a programmatically associated label element.* 

Frames must have an accessible name - 4.1.2: MUST: Name, Role, Value (Level A) 
All frame or iframe elements in the document must have a title that is not empty to describe their contents to screen reader users.* 

Images must have alternate text - 1.1.1: MUST: Non-text Content 
All images must have alternate text to convey their purpose and meaning to screen reader users.* 

Form elements must have labels - 4.1.2: MUST: Name, Role, Value (Level A) 
Description: Each form element must have a programmatically associated label element.* 

List <li> elements must be contained in a <ul> or <ol> - WCAG 2.1 (A) 1.3.1: MUST: Info and Relationships 
Ensure that all list item [li] elements are wrapped inside of [ul] or [ol] parent elements. List items may be contained in either unordered (bullet) lists or ordered (sequentially numbered) lists. Screen readers notify users when they come to a list, and tell them how many items are in a list. Announcing the number of list items and the current list item helps listeners know what they are listening to, and what to expect as they listen to it. Child list item elements must be contained within the appropriate parent list elements enabling screen readers to inform the listener that they are listening to a list.* 

<ul> and <ol> must only directly contain <li>, <script> or <template> elements - WCAG 2.1 (A) 1.3.1: MUST: Info and Relationships 
Lists must be marked up correctly, meaning they must not contain content elements other than li elements.* 

* The locations of these issues are part of the software platform and out of our direct control. These issues have been raised with the supplier, and we hope they will be addressed during their next cycle of the development. 

Disproportionate burden 

Navigation and accessing information 

We have not classified any of the non-compliant content as a disproportionate burden to fix and we have not identified any issues that would class as an exemption under law. 

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations 

PDFs and other documents 

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services.  

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards. 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility 

Our accessibility roadmap shows how and when we plan to improve accessibility of Panopto. 

To summarise, these include: 

  • Reacting quickly and effectively to feedback regarding non-compliant content and communicating these issues to relevant the parties. 
  • Periodically auditing our content for accessibility issues and correcting any issues. 
  • Regularly meeting with this third-party supplier feeding back accessibility issues and working with them to improve their services. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement 

This statement was first prepared on 6/07/2023. It was last reviewed on 14/07/2023.  

Panopto was last tested on 8th August 2025 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. 

The test was carried out by the Digital Learning team at Falmouth University. The most viewed pages were tested using automated testing tool, Axe DevTools. A further audit of the software was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.