Captioning Tips
Create videos with accessibility, marketing, and security in mind.
Keep in Mind
- Auto-generated captions are not accessible
- Captions must include correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
- Denotation of speaker when necessary for comprehension
- Denotation of music/sound effects
Laws & Guides
- Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
- Create Accessible Video, Audio and Social Media
- SMC Faculty Resource: Captioning Basics & Process
Upload a File
- Get file from Zoom: Using audio transcription for cloud recordings
- Upload captioning file
Edit Auto-Generated Captions
- Auto-generated captions are not accessible. You must edit them for correct spelling and grammar, and denotations of speakers and audio.
- See Use automatic captioning
- Follow next step below on Formatting.
Create Your Own Captioning File
How to Create a Custom SRT Subtitle File for Your Video
Do Not Embed or Burn Captions in the Video
- Not accessible for people with vision or hearing impairments.
- Not flexible for visual learners who will not be able to adjust font styles.
- Not adjustable for English Language Learners who may try to translate the English captioning.
Approach
- Check spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
- Check flow/breaks.
- Sync with sound.
- Include descriptions for audio/music and scenery. Make denotations for speakers where necessary.
Tips
- Avoid having more than 2 lines of text.
- Don’t start new subtitle with the last 1-4 words of a sentence from the past subtitle.
- If the whole phrase/sentence can fit on one line, make it fit without breaks.
- Break or start new subtitle at the end of the phrase/sentence.
Resources
Does your video need an audio description?
Here's a test:
- Cover your eyes and listen to the video without looking at it.
- If you can follow the narrative without seeing it, you should be okay.
Resources