How Do I Add Captions to My Videos?

So you have a video – but how do you add captions?

There are three main ways to associate a caption file with a video:

Upload Captions as “Side Car” Files

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.

Use 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.

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 required. For most popular platforms, integrations are available to automate the caption post-back process so this step becomes trivial. How-to guides are available for most systems below.

Video Player/Platform/Lecture Capture System	Caption Format	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) with an .xml file extension STL (Spruce Subtitle File) with a .stl file extension EBU-TT with a .xml file extension DFXP Full/TTML (Timed Text Markup Language) with a .dfxp file extension iTT (iTunes Timed Text) files with a .iTT file extension SCC (Scenarist Closed Caption) with a .scc file extension SRT (SubRip text file format) with a .srt file extension
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
Flowplayer	SRT
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
Limelight	DFXP
Lync (Skype for Business)	Encoded Captions
MediaPlatform	WebVTT
Mediasite	SRT DFXP SMI
Microsoft Stream	WebVTT
Netflix	Custom SMPTE-TT
Ooyala	DFXP
Panopto	DFXP
PowerPoint	TTML
QuickTime	QT
Slideshare	SRT
Tegrity	SRT
thePlatform	SCCSRTWebVTT
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

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