How Do I Add Captions to My Videos?

Closed Captioning 101 [Free eBook]

So you just created a new video, but how do you add captions? Better yet, why should you add captions? In the United States, some accessibility-related legislation — like the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) – make stipulations for the requirement of closed captioning for online content. While this is often a primary motivator at most organizations, it’s also important to bear in mind the multitude of benefits that become available when you create accessible content, including search engine optimization (SEO), improved viewer comprehension, and better brand recall.

When it comes to captioning, the variety of formats and technical information available can be overwhelming. That’s what we’re here for!

In this blog, we’ll break down the three main ways to associate a caption file with video content, as well as review some of the required caption formats for popular video players/platforms and lecture capture software.

How do I upload captions?

Upload as a “Side Car” File

The most common way to add captions to your videos is as a “side car” file. Most web video players and platforms allow you to upload a caption file in their specified format along with your video file. Captions will sync with your video. Users can turn captions on and off by clicking a “CC” button and can often change the visual formatting of the captions directly on the video player.

Add Open Captions

If you want to play your video offline or never want captions turned off, you can burn the captions directly onto the video file to create open captions. In this case, users can’t turn captions off – they are a part of the video file.

Encode Your Captions

The third way to associate a caption file with your video is to encode the captions. This is often necessary for offline viewing, for kiosks, or if you don’t have a video platform. You can also distribute caption-encoded videos as a single asset. Users will still be able to turn the captions on or off, and the captions should work across mobile devices.

 Captioning Basics: A Free Guide 📝 

Why do captions matter?

Closed captions provide a text alternative to relevant auditory information in a video. They originated as the outcome of an FCC mandate in the 1980s to accommodate D/deaf and hard of hearing television viewers – because of this, captions are required to be time synchronized and include details like speaker identifications and relevant non-speech elements. Most businesses and organizations are now legally required to add captions to video content.

But including closed captions is more than just legal best practice. For starters, it’s the right thing to do! Millions of people around the world experience disabling hearing loss, and including captions ensures that this audience has equal access to your organization’s video content.

However, the benefits of captioned content are not limited to individuals experiencing deafness or hearing loss. We’ve published plenty of information on the business benefits of captioning and transcription, because they’re powerful tools for expanding your audience and creating a better user experience. Captions can improve comprehension among viewers who speak English as a second language, and have proven to play a significant role in increasing overall audience engagement, comprehension, and information retention.

This can translate to better brand awareness and expanded reach – but in order to reap the benefits and make a positive impact on your video’s performance, it’s crucial to build an accurate and efficient captioning workflow. 3Play offers captioning workflow integrations with most popular video platforms and players, so we can work where you already do.

What caption format do I need?

It is critical that you use the correct caption format for your video player, video platform, or lecture capture system. While some caption formats are easier to create from scratch (for example, SRT and WebVTT), many formats use hex codes and are extremely difficult to create from scratch. We recommend using a professional captioning service or a caption format converter for these.

Below, you’ll find a list of major video players, video platforms, and lecture capture systems and the caption format that each requires. For most popular platforms, integrations are available to automate the caption post-back process so this step becomes trivial. How-to guides are also available for most systems below.

Video Player/Platform/Lecture Capture System	Caption format required:	Integration available?
Adobe Captivate	Stamped Doc
Adobe Connect Recordings	Encoded Captions
Adobe Encore	SCC
Adobe Flash	DFXP
Adobe Premiere Pro	SCC
Adobe Presenter	TXT DOC
Amazon Direct	SMPTE-TT (RP-2052) or EBU-TT with an .xml file extension STL with a .stl file extension DFXP Full/TTML with a .dfxp file extension iTT, SCC, SRT
Apple Compressor	SCC
Articulate Storyline	Stamped Doc
Avid Media Composer	Avid DS EBU STL
Blackboard Collaborate	Encoded Captions
Brightcove	Custom DFXP
Camtasia	SRT
Canvas	SRT WebVTT
Cattura	SRT
Desire2Learn	SRT
DVD Studio Pro	SCC
Echo360	XML
Echo360 Active Learning Platform	WebVTT SRT
Ensemble Video	DFXP
Facebook	SRT
Final Cut Pro 7 and X	SCC
GoToMeeting & GoToWebinar Recordings	Encoded Captions
HTML5	WebVTT
Hulu	Custom SMPTE-TT
iTunes	SCC
JW Player	WebVTT
Kaltura	SRT
Kaltura MediaSpace	SRT DFXP
Knovio by KnowledgeVision	JSON WebVTT
Lectora	PPT XML
Lync (Skype for Business)	Encoded Captions
MediaPlatform	WebVTT
Mediasite	SRT DFXP SMI
Microsoft Stream	WebVTT
Netflix	Custom SMPTE-TT
Panopto	DFXP
PowerPoint	TTML
QuickTime	QT
Slideshare	SRT
Video.js	WebVTT
VidYard	SRT WebVTT
Vimeo	WebVTT
Viostream	SRT WebVTT SCC
VLC Player	SRT
VoiceThread	DFXP SRT SAMI SCC SBV
WebEx	Encoded Captions
Windows Media and Silverlight	SRT
Wistia	SRT
YouTube	SRT SBV WebVTT TTML DFXP SCC EBU-STL
Yuja
Zoom	Encoded Captions Live Captions

This blog was originally published by Lily Bond on January 12, 2017 and has since been updated for comprehensiveness, clarity, and accuracy.