OK, I've got my transcript and my subtitle file. Now what?
Our last blog post discussed why you need video transcription for your website. New guidelines by the Department of Justice have moved ensuring accessibility of your online material from a nice-to-have to a real need.
You’re onboard the accessibility train and you’ve got transcription services lined up to bring your website’s video library up to spec. Your completed transcriptions are starting to come in, and you’re ready to take the next step.
Where do you go from here?
Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash
Social Media Platforms
If your video is hosted on social media, most platforms offer built-in tools to help you sync your subtitle or caption file. Just find out which format you need and plug it in.
YouTube supports our SRT and VTT files, so once your transcript is ready, log into your Customer Center, download one of those formats, then follow these instructions and let YouTube do the work of syncing your subtitles or captions to the video.
Facebook supports our SRT files, so just like above, once you get your transcript log in, download the SRT version, then follow these instructions and Facebook will sync your subtitle file to the video.
Other video hosting services offer similar tools; just check the Help or Tools menu on your platform of choice.
Other Platforms
Proprietary and self-hosted systems may have other approaches or require one of our other subtitle or caption formats.
We offer: SRT captions, SRT subtitles, VTT subtitles, DFXP subtitles, and a simplified VTT format that omits the <v> tag, as some platforms do not yet support this VTT standard feature.
Additional formats such as SCC, SSA, STL, and a minimal TTML are available upon request. Webm or ogg files can be provided for a fee.
Side note: If you’re a Final Cut Pro user, great news! Version 10.4.1 introduced great caption support; check out Finally! Closed Captions in FCPX for details.
Photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash
Subtitles and Captions, a Refresher
What’s the difference between subtitles and captions again?
Generally people say subtitles are for reading while listening to the audio. They contain normal punctuation, and just consist of the words that are spoken.
Captions impart more information, such as speaker labels, laughter, applause, and other non-verbals. The idea is that captions can be used effectively with the volume turned off. Captions contain minimal punctuation.
See our post, Subtitles and Captions: Apples & Oranges or Tomato/Tomahto? for a deeper dive.
Ready to get started?
The subtitles/captions upgrade can be added to any of our transcription products, from Next-Day Transcription for super efficient turnaround, to One-Week Transcription if you have a little more time, or our ultra wallet-friendly Budget Transcription, perfect for bringing larger video libraries into the accessibility age.