Hello and welcome to a short, informative guide on how to add captions to your YouTube videos
I’m Jessica Kellgren-Fozard and I’m a deaf YouTuber who also watches way more YouTube
than is probably healthy so I really do know the importance of captions!
This video is the second in a series about captions for International Week of the Deaf
and if you don’t know why they’re so important then please do go back and watch the first
video where I explain how without captions you’re kind of limiting the reach of your videos
and alienating potential subscribers.
[Whispering] Not to mention that videos with closed captions or foreign language subtitles are ranked higher
by the algorithm and will have a better chance of being in the top searches.
Tomorrow’s video will answer questions about what to include in captions. And the fourth
video in the series will break down the secret language of captions.
How To Caption
Firstly we’ll need to get to the captions section of the platform:
Go to your Video Manager Click the drop down menu next to the video
you would like to add captions to select ‘subtitles/cc’
Choose your language Now you have one of three options:
‘Upload a file’. This is for those of you who have already created a caption
file off site. These types of files contain both the text and time codes for when each
line of text should be displayed. Some files also include position and style information,
which is especially useful for deaf or hard of hearing viewers. It is a bit of an extra
step if you’re just starting out but it does mean you can create one captions file
and then reuse it on every platform where you’ll upload the video.
There are a number of websites that will allow you to create such a file.
‘Transcribe and Auto-sync’. Great for videos that already have a script or a voiceover.
Simply copy and paste your script into the box and once you’re finished click ‘set
timings’. This will take a few minutes as YouTube’s voice recognition software automatically
connects the written words to the spoken. Once they’re ready your new closed captions
will be automatically published. You can then go in and edit them if the timing is a little off!
This option is a great timesaver!
‘Create new subtitles or CC’. This option is a little more labour intensive but it’s
great for vlogs or other free flowing formats. YouTube will give you auto generated timing
blocks where it recognises there is speech- although you can turn this option off.
Type your content into each box and if you need to adjust when the caption starts and ends
then you can do so by dragging the borders under the video. A great thing about this
option is that if you don’t have time to finish the whole video your changes will be
saved as a draft and you can pick it up again later. When you’re done, select publish.
No matter which option you choose, please remember to include not just spoken audio
but also sound cues such as [music] or [crowd noise] or [wind blows portentously]
Anything to help your hard of hearing viewers or those watching in a library with the sound off when
they should be doing something else.
If making your own captions all sounds like too much work however there is another option…
Community Captions
Community contributions allow one or more of your viewers to create closed captions
of your videos and also provide translations. These are then submitted to you to be checked
by the community or you can do it yourself. You can edit these drafts so if they get
get a few words wrong here and there or spell a name incorrectly it’s a really easy fix.
This is the way that I caption most of my videos.
Aside from videos that are very pre-planned and have a script
I would struggle to caption my own videos.
Before your community can submit titles, descriptions, closed captions, or subtitles, you need to
turn it on for selected videos or make it the default setting for all videos on your
channel. To turn community contributions on with one click you can follow these steps:
Go to your creator studio Select ‘translations and transcriptions’
in the sidebar Click the settings wheel and select ‘turn
on for all videos’
There is also the ability to turn contributions on for specific videos:
Next to ‘edit’ click the drop down menu
and select ‘info & settings’ Under the video click ‘advanced settings’
and then scroll down to where you can select ‘Allow viewers to contribute translated
titles, descriptions and subtitles/CC’ Click ‘save changes’ and you’re done!
Once you have same-language captions on the video, your audience can submit translations
to help you reach a global audience. After the viewer has submitted their transcription
or translation YouTube will moderate it for spam or inappropriate content-
Although that doesn’t always work: I was once desperately trying to watch a news clip
the day after a big event and in the only one that had captions… someone had replaced
every noun with the word ‘meow’! Hilarious. But not helpful.
Once it has passed YouTube’s checks you can manage it by reviewing, editing, publishing,
flagging, or rejecting it. You could also allow your community to review the content,
and it'll automatically be published when it gets enough reviews.
Then we come to... Automatic Captions
YouTube’s automatic captions in the past weren’t the best and we have to thank activists
like Rikki Poynter for her #NoMoreCRAPtions campaign that motivated the platform to improve.
Indeed in the last year autocaptions have definitely improved and YouTube are slowly
rolling out a new feature that will allow captions for livestreams in English on certain
channels with over 10,000 subscribers.
It may not be available right now, maybe!
Depending on when you’re watching this video!
It’s easy to help the autocaptions to improve though, all you have to do is edit them!
Automatic captions are available in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish,
Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Japanese.
If automatic captions are available, they'll automatically be published on the video.
Processing time depends on the complexity of the video's audio though so they might not be available
for 24 hours after you’ve uploaded. You can then review them and check there are
no silly mistakes that make you say something awful.
Go to your Video Manager Next to the video you want to add captions
or subtitles to, click the drop-down menu next to the Edit button.
Select Subtitles and CC. If automatic captions are available, you'll
see Language (Automatic) in the 'Published' section to the right of the video.
Review automatic captions and use the edit or remove any parts that haven't been properly transcribed
Yes, it's really that easy!
Currently people watch video with automatic captions more than 15 million times per day
and the number of videos with them is an astonishing 1 billion.
Don’t let your videos be left behind!
Caption them!
Or watch more of my videos about captions and allow me to sell them to you like a cheesy
1950s TV Commercial.
If you’re left with more questions about how to do captions right, particularly the
ins and outs of captioning best practice and rules and so on
then watch the next video in this series to find out more
Down there
And subscribe for more videos with captions
and me!