A "caption file" contains both the text and information about when each line of text should be displayed.
A "transcript file" on the other hand just contains the text of what was said in the video. If the video's in English, YouTube can use speech processing algorithms to determine when the words in a transcript should be displayed.
To add captions or subtitles to one of your videos, you'll need to have transcript or caption files with the captions/subtitles in them. Please see this entry for detail.
Once you have the files, log into your YouTube account to upload them:
- Mouse over the 'Account' link in the upper right corner of every page.
- Click 'My Videos'. You will then be directed to a page showing your uploaded videos.
- Find the video to which you'd like to add captions/subtitles, then click the 'Captions' button.
- Click the "Add New Captions or Transcript" button.
- Click the 'Browse' button and find the caption/subtitle or transcript file to upload. If you are uploading a transcript (no timecodes), select "Transcript file", otherwise, select "Caption file"
- Select the appropriate language. If you wish, you can also enter a track name.
- Click the 'Upload File' button.
Preparing a Caption File
We currently support a simple caption format that is compatible with the formats known as SubViewer (*.SUB) and SubRip (*.SRT). Although you can upload your captions/subtitles in any format, only supported formats will be displayed properly on the playback page.
Here's what a (*.SBV) caption file might look like:
0:00:03.490,0:00:07.430
>> FISHER: All right. So, let's begin.
This session is: Going Social
0:00:07.430,0:00:11.600
with the YouTube APIs. I am
Jeff Fisher,
0:00:11.600,0:00:14.009
and this is Johann Hartmann,
we're presenting today.
0:00:14.009,0:00:15.889
[pause]
Here are also some common captioning practice that help readability:
- Descriptions inside square brackets like [music] or [laughter] can help people with hearing disabilities to understand what is happening in your video.
- You can also add tags like >> at the beginning of a new line to identify speakers or change of speaker.
You can obtain software to let you create these files, or ask other companies to do this for you, often for a small fee. For information on how to get captions/subtitles files made for your videos, check out this Help Center entry.
