What Video Content Can I Archive Under New ADA Title II Rules?

With the deadline to comply with the Department of Justice's revision of ADA Title II coming up in 2027, as a municipal AV or digital media operator, you might be looking for clarity around where to start when it comes to remediating your video library. What existing content needs to be updated, what qualifies for an exception, and what only needs to be addressed if someone requests it? The archived content exception in the final rule is one of the most practical pieces to understand as you plan your approach.

Identifying Archived Content

The DOJ recognized that remediating decades of legacy materials can divert resources from improving current services, so the final rule includes a narrow exception for archived web content. To qualify, the content has to meet specific conditions. It must be clearly identified as archived and stored in a dedicated archive section. It cannot be altered or updated after archiving. And most importantly, it cannot be required to access current services, programs, or activities.

For most municipal video teams, this covers older city council recordings, past public notices, or legacy community media programming that you retain solely for historic recordkeeping. If you keep those materials static and separate from active content, they likely fall within the exception.

That said, the exception doesn't eliminate responsibility entirely. If an individual with a disability requests access to an archived recording through a public information request (PIR), you still need to provide effective communication under existing ADA obligations. The exception just means you don't have to proactively remediate that content to WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards ahead of the deadline.

What Does Not Qualify for the Exception

This is where it gets important to look closely at your assets. Simply labeling a recording as old doesn't meet the rule. The content has to be functionally disconnected from active services.

If meeting recordings, agendas, or related videos still support permit applications, appeals, compliance verification, or participation in government programs, they don't qualify. If your staff periodically reposts or embeds that content into active web pages, it doesn't qualify either. And if older video remains linked from current informational pages or supports community engagement campaigns, it likely requires remediation regardless of when it was originally produced.

How to Prioritize Video Remediation

You're not going to remediate your entire video library at once, and you don't have to. The key is starting with the content that has the most public impact.

Current council meeting live streams and on-demand recordings come first. Captioning and audio descriptions for these videos are high-value, high-visibility improvements that directly serve your residents and address some of the most common gaps in municipal video accessibility.

From there, look at video content tied to essential services: public health updates, housing and permitting information, or multilingual community programming. These recordings affect residents' ability to participate in civic life and deserve priority over historic archives.

Finally, create clear archive designations for truly historic recordings. Segregating and labeling your legacy video library reduces ambiguity and lets you focus your time and resources where they'll have the most impact.

The archived content exception is a roadmap, not a loophole. The clearer you are about what's archived and what's active, the easier it is to build a remediation plan that's both manageable and defensible. And for most municipalities, video is where the biggest gaps remain.

Ready to talk about your video compliance plan? Schedule a call with our team to walk through your current workflow and see how tools like MediaScribe can help you close the gap on captioning and audio descriptions.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Archives must be stored separately.

• Archived content must be clearly identified and not altered after archiving.

• Content that supports current services does not qualify as archived content.

• Avoid ambiguity and create clear archive designations.

• New public record requests may require archived video remediation.

• Video is often the largest category of public-facing content that still needs remediation. Start there.