Captioning

Captioning is the process of creating and displaying a timed - text version (transcript) of all the audio information (dialogue, sound effects, speaker IDs, non-speech audio such as background noises etc.). They are usually displayed as white text on a black background and their on-screen placement varies. Captions originate from the 80s and are required by law for most video programming in the US to mandate accessibility as a part of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It stipulates all public media (in-classroom videos, broadcast TV etc.) must be captioned in order to avoid discrimination.

When to use captioning

Captioning and subtitling are similar in many ways as they both display text on the screen but are very distinct as they serve a different purpose. Captions are intended for an audience with hearing impairment and assume that the viewers cannot hear the audio. Not to be confused with subtitling which reflects only dialogue and are intended for hearing viewers that do not understand the original language. Or with SDH which combines elements from both subtitles and captions but differs in terms of appearance, placement and encoding. While captioning is originally meant for accessibility, it is also used for a variety of other reasons. Captions allow viewers to follow the story when the sound cannot be heard due to noisy (public transportation) or sound-sensitive environment (hospitals). With social media, captions allow viewers to understand videos that are played in a silent mode by default.

Captioning comes in two forms- closed captioning (CC) and open captioning (OC).

Closed captioning

Closed captions can be turned on and off at the viewer's comfort and are broadly used for Broadcast TV, VOD and OTT. The name "closed" comes from the fact that they are hidden in the video signal and are not showing until turned on and activated through a special decoder at a viewer's click. Important considerations include selecting the right format depending on broadcaster or service provided requirements to ensure proper display. Unlike subtitles, closed captions can be typed live as the script is encoded into the TV signal and differing to subtitles, closed captions can use three lines of text.

Open captioning

Open captions are permanently embedded (burnt-in) the video and are used for web video players, cinema and theatrical content. Differing to closed captions, once integrated in the video they cannot be turned on and off. On the downside, multiple languages can not be managed using the same caption file and a different video copy must be produced for each language version to be selected by the user. On the other hand, having the subtitles as an integral part of the video eliminates the need to track video and subtitle files separately, does not require special functionality from the media player in order to be displayed correctly and enables publishers to control captions' style and size.

Let's grow your audience

GoPhrazy provides FCC- compliant captions in 150+ languages for the needs of your TV, film, movie, theatrical, web or other audiovisual content. Let's help you reach, engage and include more viewers by conveying the authentic experience with your content through any medium, platform and format!

Our captioning department is set up to work on a wide range of caption formats. Some of the most common formats used are pac, sub, xml, stl, sst, fab, and srt. However, upon request we can also work with any media input and captioning format output, depending on your individual preferences.