Video Accessibility Glossary

A semantic reference hub for technical terms, regulatory standards, and mathematical models used in video accessibility and Photosensitive Epilepsy (PSE) analysis.

Photosensitive Epilepsy (PSE)

A neurological condition where seizures are triggered by flashing or flickering lights, or by high-contrast visual patterns.

WCAG Success Criterion 2.3.1

A web accessibility standard requiring that pages and video content do not flash more than three times per second, or that any faster flash is below defined safety thresholds.

Three Flashes Rule

The core rule under WCAG 2.3.1 stating that content must not contain more than three flashes in any one-second period.

Relative Luminance

The relative brightness of any point in a colorspace, normalized to 0 for darkest black and 1 for lightest white.

General Flash

A pair of opposing luminance transitions of 10% or more of reference luminance (or Michelson contrast of 1/17).

Red Flash

A transition to or from a saturated red state (R/(R+G+B) >= 0.8) with a CIE 1976 UCS chromaticity delta > 0.2.

Harding FPA

Flash and Pattern Analyzer, the commercial broadcast gold standard tool mandated by Ofcom for photosensitive safety testing.

PEAT

Photosensitive Epilepsy Analysis Tool, a free legacy desktop software tool developed by the Trace R&D Center for checking web videos.

Ofcom

The UK regulatory body for broadcasting, which mandates strict PSE compliance using the Harding FPA.

Trace24

A compliance standard developed by the Trace R&D Center mapping to the 24Hz testing guidelines.

NHK / JBA

The Japanese broadcasting associations' standards for photosensitive safety in broadcast television.

10-Degree Visual Field

The central field of view used by WCAG to calculate the spatial threshold of flashing content.

Steradians

A unit of solid angle used to define the visual field area, where the critical flash threshold is 0.006 steradians (25% of a 10-degree visual field).

Chromaticity

The quality of color characterized by its dominant wavelength and purity, independent of luminance.

CIE 1976 UCS

Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage Uniform Chromaticity Scale, used to measure chromaticity differences for red flash detection.

ADA Title II

Section of the Americans with Disabilities Act requiring state and local governments to make web content and videos accessible.

Zach's Law

Legislation in the UK making it a criminal offense to send flashing images to trigger seizures in people with epilepsy.

prefers-reduced-motion

A CSS media query used to detect if the user has requested the operating system to minimize non-essential motion.

sRGB Linearization

The mathematical process of converting sRGB gamma-encoded color values into linear relative luminance values.

Michelson Contrast

The ratio of the difference between peak and minimum luminance to their sum, used to evaluate flashes when the darker state is >= 80% reference luminance.

Qualifying Duration (66ms)

The time window (66 ms or less) within which a single transition must take place to be counted as part of a flash.