how to add closed captioning to a youtube video

Closed captions are what many of us associate with captioning, as those are what you see when you turn on closed captions on a TV. The main types of captions for online videos are closed captions and open (or burned in) captions. Types of video captions and subtitlesĬaptions are a transcription of the audio in a video. This guide will explain the different caption and subtitle types, how to decide which type to use, and how to upload closed caption files to different platforms. We’ll use both terms in this guide, and say what term each platform uses.

Some platforms call the text on the bottom of the video a caption, and some say subtitle. Note: While traditionally the term “captions” was used for a pure transcription of the audio of a video and “subtitle” was reserved for foreign languages, we now see the terms being used interchangeably online. Don’t wait for someone’s lawyer to call before you make your website and social content accessible. Major B2C brands have faced lawsuits over lack of web accessibility. More importantly, captions expand accessibility of your videos. That means a video without captions could be losing more than half the potential audience. Forgetting to get or add captions or subtitles to your marketing videos is one of the biggest mistakes you can make, and also one of the easiest (and cheapest!) to avoid.ĭepending on who you ask, anywhere from 60 to 85 percent of online videos are watched without sound.

How to add closed captioning to a youtube video