On this page, you will find resources to assist you in obtaining professional captions for your videos, and/or in captioning them on your own.
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Benefits of video captions
Professors, students and IT administrators share the benefits of using captions for videos used in postsecondary education in this video titled Captions: Improving Access to Postsecondary Education.
When are captions required?
Copyright considerations
- If you are captioning a video created by someone else, determine if your purpose qualifies for Fair Use
- Copyright Law vs Accessibility Law: Is it Fair Use to Caption Video you Don't Own? (3PlayMedia, April 9, 2015)
Professional Captioning Resources
The table below lists organizations that provide CART and/or captions. CART transcriptions from events, if available, may be used to facilitate creating captions for recordings of those events. Additionally, some CART transcriptionists may be willing to create captions and send the finished caption file to you, for you to attach to a video you have uploaded to a streaming site.
Please note that the services and rates described below are current as of July 2015.
| Organization/Company Name | Services Offered | Rates | Contact Information | Comments |
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| 3PlayMedia | Captioning & transcription Translation & subtitling Spanish captioning & transcription Interactive transcripts Various tools & plugins | $2.50/min with Pro Plan 4 business days turnaround | t: 617-764-5189 f: 617-245-0510 | Fully integrates with Ensemble to submit videos for captioning. See 3PlayMedia Ensemble Video Integration for more details. |
| Automatic Sync Technologies (CaptionSync) | Captions & subtitles Transcription Video encoding Caption translations Production transcripts Interactive transcripts DVD/MP4 transfer Digital NLE captions | $2.59/min 3 business days turnaround $3.25/min 1 business day turnaround $2.49/min 4+ days turnaround | t: 877-278-7962 | Fully integrates with Ensemble to submit videos for captioning with just a few clicks. See How to Caption Video with Ensemble / Automatic Sync Integration
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| Caption Advantage, LLC | Real-time captioning Post-production video captioning | Contact Caption Advantage for pricing information | t (local): 315-492-0069 f: 315-492-1426 | |
| Ensemble/CaptionEx | Captioning Transcription Translation
| Rates are for videos hosted in Ensemble $1.50/min for transcription & captioning for 3 business days turnaround $2.30/min for transcription & captioning for1 business day turnaround | t: 844-552-2739 | Read more about pricing for videos hosted in Ensemble. |
| Rev | Transcription Captions Subtitles Translation | $1.00/min 1 business day turnaround | t: 888-369-0701 | Rev.com has a loose integration with Ensemble. It is not necessary to upload an Ensemble video to Rev.com, but finished caption files must be downloaded from Rev.com and uploaded to Ensemble. See Instructions for captioning Ensemble Videos with Rev.com. Some errors were found in caption text. Best practice is to review the captions provided by Rev.com and make corrections as needed. |
| SpeakerText | Captions Interactive transcripts | Premium (95% accuracy): Same day (12 hrs or less): $2.00/min Priority express (24 hrs or less): $1.00 Superior (99% accuracy): Standard (2 business days): $1.50 | t: 1-888-809-0229 |
Automated Transcription Services
***Please note: Automated captions use voice recognition technology to create a transcript of the video. This technology is not perfect so the transcript will always have errors. It is imperative that you review and correct errors.
| Vendor | Description of Services | Cost |
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| Ensemble Video | Automated captions that can be edited with the Amara caption editor which is built into Ensemble | $3/hour of video |
| trint | Automated transcript that can be edited with the trint editor that "marries a text editor to an audio/video player. Click on a word and hear your original audio, making it easier than ever to quickly search, verify and (if necessary) correct your content." | Starting at $15/hour with reduced pricing for monthly plans. |
| YouTube | Automated captions that can be edited with the YouTube caption editor. (Note: YouTube's automated captions do not include punctuation or capitalization at the beginning of sentences. Captions must be edited to be usable.) | Free |
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The following page reviews video captioning resources reviewed by the Information Technology Services (ITS) accessibility team.
Table of Contents
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About Captioning
About Live Captioning
- ASL, CART and Captioning Resources
- /wiki/spaces/ITHELP/pages/159941351?
- Guidelines for CART and ASL Interpreting
- How to use Blackboard Collaborate Real-time Captions (with AST/CaptionSync)
About Audio Description
- Audio description (sometimes referred to as Described Video)
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- is provided by a trained describer that provides descriptions of the visual components of the video.
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- Audio description makes video accessible to blind/visually-impaired persons who would otherwise miss out on information presented visually.
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- This information is synchronized with the video, but provided in a separate sound track.
- For a full description and example of audio description, see the Penn State whitepaper titled
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Vendors
| Organization/Company Name | Services Offered | Rates | Contact Information | Comments |
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| 3PlayMedia | Transcription & captioning Audio Description | up to $9.50/min. 5 day turnaround Volume discounts available | 3PlayMedia website | Several output formats available Audio description plugin included for playing the audio descriptions with multiple video players |
Captioning and Described Media Services AMAC Accessibility Solutions | Transcription & captioning Audio Description CART | Captioning: $3.42/min. Audio Description:
| AMAC focuses on Higher Education market | |
| AUDIOEYES LLC | Captioning Video Description | Audio Eyes website | ||
Lists of Vendors:
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DIY Audio Description
- Find resources for creating your own Audio Descriptions at The Smith-Kettlewell Video Description Research and Development Center.
- videos showing best practices for creating your own video descriptions
- video description software
- standards and guidelines
- YouDescribe - submit videos for audio description or do it yourself
Tools and Resources for Self-Captioning
The table below will provide you with tools and resources to caption videos yourself, should you choose to do so. Before you begin captioning, please take some time to review the Quality Captioning Guidelines below.
| Tool Name | Features | Cost | Supported Platform(s) | For More Information |
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Camtasia Studio Camtasia for Mac | Screen recording, video editing, special effects, basic captioning, and more. | Single-user Windows: $179 with educational discount Single-user Mac: $75 with educational discount Volume licenses also available. | Windows (Camtasia Studio) Mac (Camtasia for Mac) Please note that these two programs have some differing features! | Camtasia (on TechSmith website) |
| Express Scribe | Facilitates transcription by allowing the user to control audio playback (plus video playback in the paid version) using customizable hotkeys. Also works with foot pedal controllers. | Free, Basic $40, Professional $50 Please note: If you want the Free version, do not click the "Download Now" button or the "Download Express Scribe Transcription Software for Windows/Mac" link on the Express Scribe home page as this will download a full trial version that will expire. Instead, look for a section titled "Get Express Scribe Free" and the link "Download the free version of Express Scribe here". | Windows, Mac |
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| Subtitle Edit | Full-featured, free tool for creating, editing, syncing, and translating captions and subtitles (and more). Learning curve can be steep. Good tool for converting caption files to different formats. Note: Requires installation of VLC Media Player and LAV Filters (both free). | Free (open-source)
| Windows only (may run in OS X, with glitches, using Wineskin) | Subtitle Edit website |
| Subtitle Horse | Online tool for captioning streaming videos | Free to use online tool; paid license required to download and install | (Online) All platforms that support Flash Player | Subtitle Horse website |
Other DIY captioning tools and resources
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Captioning of Recorded Videos from Popular Platforms
Many of our campus video and web conferencing platforms have some level of support for automatic captioning, but in most cases we recommend using Kaltura as your primary video storage and captioning tool. Please remember that while machine-generated captions can be a time-saver, they are error-prone and always require editing/clean-up.
Blackboard Collaborate Recordings
Blackboard Collaborate does not have automatic captioning functionality, so you must have a caption file created outside of Collaborate.
If professional captions are desired they can be obtained from a captioning vendor in VTT or SRT format and uploaded to Collaborate.
Recommend downloading Collaborate recordings to Kaltura for captioning/storage.
Google Meet Recordings
Google Meet does not have automatic captioning functionality.
Recommend downloading Meet recordings and importing to Kaltura for captioning/storage
Kaltura MediaSpace Captioning
- Videos created or uploaded to Kaltura will have automatic captioning applied which should then be cleaned up using Kaltura’s captioning editor.
- See Using the Kaltura Caption Editor.
- If professional captions are desired they can be obtained from a captioning vendor in SRT format and uploaded to Kaltura.
- Zoom cloud recordings are automatically archived in Kaltura along with the automatically generated Zoom captions AND Kaltura automatically generated captions. User can choose which caption file to display on the Kaltura player and can edit/clean up the caption files in the Kaltura caption editor.
Microsoft Teams Recordings
Recordings are saved to Microsoft Stream where automatic captioning is applied and can be cleaned up using the Stream caption editor, or import the video to Kaltura for automatic captioning and cleanup using the Kaltura caption editor. Visit Microsoft's Edit the Transcript of a Meeting Recording in Teams.
If professional captions are desired recommend requesting SRT format and importing to Kaltura.
Zoom Recordings
Zoom applies automatic captioning to meeting recordings (within Zoom)
Zoom editor can be used to clean-up/edit captions for viewing in Zoom. (Note: Zoom caption file results in captions that contain too much text per line and too many lines per timestamp, which can’t be changed easily.)
Zoom cloud recordings are automatically archived in Kaltura and closed captions will be generated.
Live Captioning of Events on Popular Platforms
Note: When determining how best to provide live captions for your event please consult Guidelines for CART and ASL Interpreting.
Blackboard Collaborate
- Moderator assigns captioner role to attendee, usually a professional captioner.
- Note: Live captions will be available as closed captions on the recorded video in Blackboard, but live captions rarely meet the standard of quality required for recorded video so captioning of recording will still be required.
Google Meet
- Automatic live captions are available during the session.
- Note: Live captions are not available for download or for use in closed captioning of recording.
Microsoft Teams
- Microsoft Teams does not support a live, professional captioner however automatic live captions are provided.
- Note: Live captions are not available for download after the meeting.
Zoom
- Zoom supports both professional live transcription services (CART) and third-party live transcription products such as Otter.ai. Also, Zoom also has its own integrated live transcription, known as Live Transcript.
- Automated live transcription is not available in breakout rooms, and there can be only one human transcriptionist at a time. Live captions in concurrent breakout rooms are not supported.
- Meeting hosts must enable captions in their settings and decide whether to allow participants to download transcripts. Once captions are enabled in the settings, they must also be enabled for each meeting by the host.
- Transcripts of live captions should be downloaded by participants (if allowed) before ending the meeting. Note: Speaker identification is included in the live transcript available on-screen during the session, but speakers are not identified in the version that participants can save locally.
- Cloud recordings will be automatically saved to the host's account on Kaltura. Kaltura will generate automated/machine-generated closed captions, which should be updated using the Kaltura Caption Editor.
Captioning Vendors
- AutomaticSync Technologies
- 3PlayMedia
- Audioeyes LLC
- Caption Advantage, LLC
- AMAC - Captioning and Described Media Services
- SpeakerText
Do-It-Yourself
- Captioning YouTube Videos (NCDAE)
- Free Tools for Captioning YouTube Videos (Terrill Thompson, University of Washington)
Step-by-Step instructions for DIY captioning
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- Using YouTube, Express Scribe and other tools (Ken Petri, Ohio State University)
- How to Add Closed Captions & Subtitles to Facebook Videos
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- Find resources for creating your own Audio Descriptions at The Smith-Kettlewell Video Description Research and Development Center.
- videos showing best practices for creating your own video descriptions
- video description software
- standards and guidelines
- YouDescribe - submit videos for audio description or do it yourself
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Quality Captioning Guidelines
Captioning someone else's YouTube videos
If you want a vendor to caption the videos:
- 3PlayMedia has a plugin that allows the captions to be overlayed on the video. You can find the details in this 3PlayMedia article: How to Caption Someone Else’s YouTube Video.
- AutomaticSync's CaptionSync also provides captions for YouTube videos you do not own under certain circumstances. See Submitting a YouTube URL.
If you want to create captions yourself, an alternative is to ask the video owner to allow you to post captions to their video. There are instructions on how to do this in a YouTube video titled “Submitting Subtitles/CC for YouTube Videos”. YouTube also provides a text-based tutorial on how to submit captions.
Ensemble Video Captioning Services
- Information on the Automatic Sync Captioning Service
- Information on the Rev Captioning Service
Other Resources
- Captioning Facebook Live events
- Video Captioning workshop PowerPoint (ITS)
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