diff --git a/docs/multiple-alternative-audio-tracks.md b/docs/multiple-alternative-audio-tracks.md
index aa4fe6544..f19c321fe 100644
--- a/docs/multiple-alternative-audio-tracks.md
+++ b/docs/multiple-alternative-audio-tracks.md
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ The mapping between `AudioTrack` and the parsed m3u8  file is fairly straight fo
 
 As you can see m3u8's do not have a property for `AudioTrack.id`, which means that we let `video.js` randomly generate the id for `AudioTrack`s. This will have no real impact on any part of the system as we do not use the `id` anywhere.
 
-The other property that does not have a mapping in the m3u8 is `AudioTrack.kind`. It was decided that we would set the `kind` to `main` when `default` is set to `true` and in all other cases we set it to `alternative`
+The other property that does not have a mapping in the m3u8 is `AudioTrack.kind`. It was decided that we would set the `kind` to `main` when `default` is set to `true` and in other cases we set it to `alternative` unless the track has `characteristics` which include `public.accessibility.describes-video`, in which case we set it to `main-desc` (note that this `kind` indicates that the track is a mix of the main track and description, so it can be played *instead* of the main track; a track with kind `description` *only* has the description, not the main track).
 
 Below is a basic example of a mapping
 m3u8 layout
@@ -27,8 +27,13 @@ m3u8 layout
 			lang: 'eng'
 		},
 		'audio-track-2': {
-			default: true,
+			default: false,
 			lang: 'fr'
+    },
+		'audio-track-3': {
+			default: false,
+			lang: 'eng',
+      characteristics: 'public.accessibility.describes-video'
 		}
 	}]
 }
@@ -48,6 +53,12 @@ Corresponding AudioTrackList when media-group-1 is used (before any tracks have
 	language: 'fr',
 	kind: 'alternative',
 	id: 'random'
+}, {
+	label: 'audio-tracks-3',
+	enabled: false,
+	language: 'eng',
+	kind: 'main-desc',
+	id: 'random'
 }]
 ```
 
@@ -83,4 +94,3 @@ Corresponding AudioTrackList when media-group-1 is used (before any tracks have
 1. `MasterPlaylistController` maps the `label` to the `PlaylistLoader` containing the audio
 1. `MasterPlaylistController` turns on that `PlaylistLoader` and the Corresponding `SegmentLoader` (master or audio only)
 1. `MediaSource`/`mux.js` determine how to mux
-
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6723d5b26..ef2bf838e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "aes-decrypter": "1.0.3",
     "global": "^4.3.0",
-    "m3u8-parser": "2.0.1",
+    "m3u8-parser": "2.1.0",
     "mux.js": "4.1.1",
     "url-toolkit": "1.0.9",
     "video.js": "^5.17.0",
diff --git a/src/master-playlist-controller.js b/src/master-playlist-controller.js
index 919145b28..4864821a8 100644
--- a/src/master-playlist-controller.js
+++ b/src/master-playlist-controller.js
@@ -557,7 +557,7 @@ export class MasterPlaylistController extends videojs.EventTarget {
         let properties = mediaGroups.AUDIO[mediaGroup][label];
         let track = new videojs.AudioTrack({
           id: label,
-          kind: properties.default ? 'main' : 'alternative',
+          kind: this.audioTrackKind_(properties),
           enabled: false,
           language: properties.language,
           label
@@ -574,6 +574,22 @@ export class MasterPlaylistController extends videojs.EventTarget {
     })[0] || this.activeAudioGroup()[0]).enabled = true;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Convert the properties of an HLS track into an audioTrackKind.
+   *
+   * @private
+   */
+  audioTrackKind_(properties) {
+    let kind = properties.default ? 'main' : 'alternative';
+
+    if (properties.characteristics &&
+        properties.characteristics.indexOf('public.accessibility.describes-video') >= 0) {
+      kind = 'main-desc';
+    }
+
+    return kind;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Call load on our SegmentLoaders
    */
diff --git a/test/master-playlist-controller.test.js b/test/master-playlist-controller.test.js
index f839db530..2134c2d22 100644
--- a/test/master-playlist-controller.test.js
+++ b/test/master-playlist-controller.test.js
@@ -990,6 +990,40 @@ QUnit.test('sends decrypter messages to correct segment loader', function(assert
   assert.deepEqual(mainHandleDecryptedCalls[0], { source: 'main' }, 'sent data');
 });
 
+QUnit.test('correctly sets alternate audio track kinds', function(assert) {
+  this.requests.length = 0;
+  this.player = createPlayer();
+  this.player.src({
+    src: 'manifest/alternate-audio-accessibility.m3u8',
+    type: 'application/vnd.apple.mpegurl'
+  });
+
+  // master
+  this.standardXHRResponse(this.requests.shift());
+  // media - required for loadedmetadata
+  this.standardXHRResponse(this.requests.shift());
+
+  const audioTracks = this.player.tech_.audioTracks();
+
+  assert.equal(audioTracks.length, 4, 'added 4 audio tracks');
+  assert.equal(audioTracks[0].id, 'English', 'contains english track');
+  assert.equal(audioTracks[0].kind, 'main', 'english track\'s kind is "main"');
+  assert.equal(audioTracks[1].id,
+               'English Descriptions',
+               'contains english descriptions track');
+  assert.equal(audioTracks[1].kind,
+               'main-desc',
+               'english descriptions track\'s kind is "main-desc"');
+  assert.equal(audioTracks[2].id, 'Français', 'contains french track');
+  assert.equal(audioTracks[2].kind,
+               'alternative',
+               'french track\'s kind is "alternative"');
+  assert.equal(audioTracks[3].id, 'Espanol', 'contains spanish track');
+  assert.equal(audioTracks[3].kind,
+               'alternative',
+               'spanish track\'s kind is "alternative"');
+});
+
 QUnit.module('Codec to MIME Type Conversion');
 
 QUnit.test('recognizes muxed codec configurations', function(assert) {
diff --git a/utils/manifest/alternate-audio-accessibility.m3u8 b/utils/manifest/alternate-audio-accessibility.m3u8
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fd21e3a32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/manifest/alternate-audio-accessibility.m3u8
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#EXTM3U
+#EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=AUDIO,GROUP-ID="audio",LANGUAGE="eng",NAME="English",AUTOSELECT=YES,DEFAULT=YES,URI="eng/prog_index.m3u8"
+#EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=AUDIO,GROUP-ID="audio",LANGUAGE="eng",NAME="English Descriptions",AUTOSELECT=YES,DEFAULT=NO,CHARACTERISTICS="public.accessibility.describes-video",URI="eng_desc/prog_index.m3u8"
+#EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=AUDIO,GROUP-ID="audio",LANGUAGE="fre",NAME="Français",AUTOSELECT=YES,DEFAULT=NO,URI="fre/prog_index.m3u8"
+#EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=AUDIO,GROUP-ID="audio",LANGUAGE="sp",NAME="Espanol",AUTOSELECT=YES,DEFAULT=NO,URI="sp/prog_index.m3u8"
+
+#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=195023,CODECS="avc1.42e00a,mp4a.40.2",AUDIO="audio"
+lo/prog_index.m3u8
+#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=591680,CODECS="avc1.42e01e,mp4a.40.2",AUDIO="audio"
+hi/prog_index.m3u8