As a non-native English speaker, I often rely on subtitles to enjoy movies and TV shows. Instead of stressing over every word, I can relax and follow the story through the text on the screen. Subtitles not only help me grasp the dialogue but also let me put myself into the emotions and visuals of every scene.
Captions and subtitles together make videos more accessible to everyone, overcoming challenges like hearing impairments, language differences, or situations where audio is not an option. These features help you reach a broader audience and improve the viewing experience.
In this article, you will learn about the differences between captions and subtitles, why they matter, as well as format guidelines and SEO strategies to make your content easy to find and enjoyable.
Captions and subtitles may seem similar, but they serve different purposes. Captions are on-screen text that displays dialogue and other sound effects for viewers who cannot hear the audio or have difficulty hearing.
Subtitles are on-screen text that translates dialogue for viewers who don't understand the language spoken in the video. They only display the words in another language, without including information about sounds or audio cues. Now, we will explore the types of captions and subtitles.
Closed captions (CC):
Open captions:
They are categorized as intralingual subtitles and interlingual subtitles.
To simplify things, we'll refer to captions and subtitles as "captions" for the rest of this article.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about increasing your website's chances of appearing at the top of search engine results, such as Google. When someone searches the internet, search engines use complex algorithms to decide which websites appear first. To rank higher, improve important aspects such as content, keywords, meta descriptions, and backlinks so that search engines can prioritize your website.
A higher SEO score indicates increased visibility, traffic, and possible customers.
Subtitles and captions can help your SEO since search engines can index the text content, making your site more accessible and appealing to a larger audience.
1. Long-tail keywords:
2. User engagement metrics:
3. Multilingual SEO benefits:
4. Rich snippets:
5. Mobile SEO benefits:
By adding high-quality captions to your video, you're not just making your content more accessible – you're also creating a powerful SEO asset that can greatly improve your video content's visibility and ranking in search results.
So, when we are dealing with captions, we’ve got a bunch of formats to choose from. But two of them stand out: SRT and WebVTT.
The first and the most widely used is SRT (SubRip Subtitle). SRT is like the old reliable friend of subtitle formats. It's super simple – just a plain text file with the words and when they should appear on the screen. That's why so many video editors and content creators love it. It's perfect if you're just starting or need something quick and easy.
Here’s an example of an SRT file:
362
00:20:01.809 -> 00:20:03.149
You either die a hero...
363
00:20:03.249 -> 00:20:04.549
...or you live long enough...
364
00:20:04.649 -> 00:20:06.229
to see yourself become the villain.
SRT excels at its primary function. However, if you're looking for fancy formatting options, you might find it somewhat limited. It's great at handling basic subtitle needs yet falls short when more advanced features are required.
WebVTT (Web Video Text Tracks) is a more advanced subtitle format compared to SRT. It handles basic subtitle functions and offers additional features such as styling, positioning, and metadata support. WebVTT is particularly useful for projects requiring more than simple text subtitles, providing enhanced functionality for web-based video content.
Here’s an example of a WebVTT file. All WebVTT files start with the WEBVTT header to indicate the file format.
WEBVTT
11
00:05:10.000 -> 00:05:12.500
Bruce Wayne: I've had training!
12
00:05:13.000 -> 00:05:16.000
Henri Ducard: The training is nothing! The will is everything!
13
00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:19.000
Henri Ducard: The will to act.
WebVTT is an official W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) standard specifically designed for HTML5 video, ensuring better compatibility and support across modern web browsers compared to the more basic SRT format. It's built for the video world we're living in now.
Here at FastPix, we use the Common Media Application Format (CMAF) to stream all our video content. While the CMAF protocol supports a variety of captioning formats, we believe WebVTT is the best alternative.
When you import captions into FastPix, you must provide a valid WebVTT file. You can choose to provide this file as input or have captions generated automatically by OpenAI’s Whisper model.
If you want to try adding some captions to your video, follow our documentation and steps to get started guide. You will learn about the prerequisites and get an introduction to using FastPix APIs, ensuring you have all the necessary information to successfully integrate captions into your videos.
1{
2 "inputs": [
3 {
4 "type": "video",
5 "url": "https://storage.googleapis.com/gtv-videos-bucket/sample/ForBiggerJoyrides.mp4",
6 "startTime": 0,
7 "endTime": 60
8 },
9
10 "createSubtitles": {
11 "name": "name",
12 "metadata": {
13 "key1": "value1"
14 },
15 "languageCode": "en-us"
16 },
1{
2 "url": "https://storage.googleapis.com/gtv-videos-bucket/sample/BigBuckBunny.vtt",
3 "type": "subtitle",
4 "languageCode": "en-US",
5 "languageName": "english",
6 "metadata": {
7 "key1": "value1"
8 },
9 "closedCaptions": false
10}
1{
2 "corsOrigin": "*",
3 "pushMediaSettings": {
4 "accessPolicy": "private",
5 "startTime": 0,
6 "endTime": 60,
7 "createSubtitles": {
8 "name": "name",
9 "metadata": {
10 "key1": "value1"
11 },
12 "languageCode": "en-us"
13 },
14 "optimizeAudio": true,
15 "maxResolution": "1080p"
16 }
17}
By following these steps, you can successfully create media with subtitles using the FastPix API. Remember to adjust the values in the JSON payload as necessary to fit your specific requirements.
According to the 2014 mandates by the Federal Communications Commission, for captions to be high quality, they need to be:
Accurate - This means there should be no errors or mistakes. The industry standard is 99% accuracy. Always review your captions and subtitles, even if you think they are perfect. Do not correct incorrect grammar in the speaker’s dialogue.
Consistent - Your captions should maintain uniform features throughout the content. Avoid changing fonts or colors unless they have a specific purpose, such as differentiating between speakers.
Clear - Captions should clearly indicate who is speaking and convey any non-verbal information, such as sound effects or music cues. Their primary purpose is to enhance comprehension and ensure the content remains accessible, even when the audio is muted.
Readable - Choose an appropriate font and sync captions with the audio properly. Ensure captions stay on screen long enough for viewers to read them comfortably.
Equal - Captions should accurately convey the meaning and intent of the spoken content.
1. Font: Use a clear, sans-serif font like Arial or Helvetica for your captions. Ensure that the text is large enough to be easily readable, usually around 1/25th of the screen height, and the font size is consistent.
2. Color and contrast: Use high-contrast colors for clear visibility, like white text on a black background. You can consider providing customizable color options for your audience.
3. Speaker-oriented placement: Position captions near the speaker when multiple people are talking to help viewers identify who is speaking. Align captions to the left, right, or centre of the screen based on the speaker’s location.
3. Line length and duration: Limit each line of text to 32-42 characters to ensure readability. Display a maximum of two lines of text to avoid clutter. Allow a minimum of 0.3 seconds per word or 1.5 seconds per line to give viewers enough time to read the captions.
4. Positioning: By default, place captions at the bottom center of the screen. Be careful not to cover visual elements or on-screen text by maintaining consistent positioning throughout the video.
5. Timing and synchronization: Synchronize captions with the audio to ensure they appear at the right moment. Captions should match the corresponding audio and remain on screen long enough for viewers to read comfortably.
Using captions helps ensure everyone can enjoy your content, whether they’re dealing with a language barrier or a hearing impairment. At FastPix, we make it easy for content creators and businesses to enhance their videos with captions using our advanced AI-powered tools.
With FastPix, you can automatically generate subtitles in multiple languages, create closed captions that comply with ADA standards with features like speaker identification and sound descriptions, and effortlessly integrate these into your video workflow.
Try FastPix for free today and see how you can create great video experiences.