When captioning is necessary?

As a general rule, recorded videos should be captioned. Captions help the viewer when the video is watched without sound, the sound quality is poor, or the speech is otherwise difficult to follow. Captions also help with language learning (if the spoken language of the video is not the viewer’s native language). Captions improve the accessibility of the video and support learning.

You can read more about accessibility requirements for video and audio content: Videot ja äänitteet (saavutettavasti.fi).

You can learn more about HAMK’s supported captioning tools: How to create captions yourself.

Caption the essential content

The purpose of captioning is to convey the essential audio content of the video. In practice, this means captioning the speech in the same language as the video. If there are other sounds in the video that are essential for understanding, they should also be expressed in the captions.

For example, the following sounds may need to be expressed in screen captions:

• knock on the door (not shown in the picture)
• alarm sound
• laughter or other reaction of a person outside the image, if it affects the interpretation of the content
• change of speaker, if it is not otherwise noticeable

Concise, but don’t lose the point

Good captions are usually not a verbatim copy of the speech. Fillers, repetitions, and other speech clutter can often be eliminated, as long as the actual meaning is preserved. The viewer should have time to read the captions without losing focus on the video.

Good practices include, for example:

• one idea per caption (the caption text visible on the screen at a time)
• 1–2 lines of caption at a time
• clear language
• the main idea of ​​a speech rather than all the words as they are

Prefer closed captioning

If you have a choice of captioning technology, opt for separate on/off captions, in other words closed captions (often abbreviated CC in video players). This is the most flexible option, as the viewer can decide for themselves whether to use captions or not. Captions can also be added permanently to the image (abbreviated OC, which stands for open captions), but this is more rigid and does not allow the viewer to change captions or watch the video without them. In addition, separate videos must be published for translated subtitles and special captions (captions for the hearing impaired), which is unnecessarily cumbersome.

Take care of readability

Captions should be easy to read. They should not obscure the essential content of the video, and they should stand out clearly from the background. The best results are achieved when space is left at the bottom of the image (for example, a PowerPoint presentation) for the text. In some publishing platforms, captions appear separately below the image, and in others, they appear on top of the image at the bottom.

At least remember these:

• keep the captions clear and large enough (OC captions)
• make sure that the text stands out from the background and the selected captioning font is easy to read (OC captions)
• avoid placing important image content at the very bottom (CC and OC captions)
• check that the captions do not cover slides, names, charts or other essential content (CC and OC captions)

Always check captions before publishing.

Automatically generated captions save time, but they should not be published without checking. Names, special terms, foreign words and speech timing in particular often require correction.

A good way to check captions is:

• watch the video without sound and assess whether you understand the content
• listen to the video without the image and consider whether anything essential is left out of the image alone
• read the captions through in their entirety before publishing

You can learn more about the captioning tools supported by HAMK How to create captions yourself. If you produce a lot of captions automatically (using speech recognition), you should try the Subtitle Edit application. It includes features that speed up the cleaning of text after speech recognition.

What about multiple language versions?

It may be necessary to create multiple caption versions for the same video. This is useful, for example, when the same video is used for different target groups or in international teaching. Translation subtitles are a good service, but from an accessibility perspective, the video should always be captioned in the spoken language (regardless of the primary target audience).

Remember the sound recordings too

If you publish an audio recording, such as a podcast, its content must also be provided in text format (transcription). The text version should show the speech and, if necessary, other sounds that are essential for understanding. Transcribing an audio recording can be done with the same tools as captioning videos.

A concise checklist for captioning

• As a general rule, always caption recorded video and audio.
• Caption the speech in the same language as the video.
• Also add important non-speech sounds if necessary.
• Keep your speech concise so that the captions are easy to read.
• Prefer closed captioning (CC) if the publishing platform supports it.
• Make sure that the captions do not obscure the essential content of the video.
• Always check automatically generated captions before publishing.