Adding captions to videos

What is captioning?

Adding captions (also known as subtitles) to your video makes it more accessible to a wider audience, including viewers who are deaf, hard of hearing or to which English is not their first language.

Is automatic captioning available for videos?

Videos created by staff (including those produced by the University's Media team) are located on the University of Derby YouTube channel. YouTube automatically creates captions for these videos using speech recognition software and you can view these captions by clicking the captions icon (see below) and selecting "English (automatic captions)". 

However, YouTube's automatic captioning is often not very accurate so you might want replace this with a corrected version.

How do I add accurate captions to a video on the University YouTube channel? 

If the automatic captions need substantial alterations it is usually quickest to create a new set of captions. To do this you will need to create a transcript for the video:

1. Using the YouTube video as a reference, create a Word document that accurately reflects the words spoken in the video

2. To ensure its accuracy, please have at least 1 other person proofread the transcript

3. Email the proofread Word document to the Media team who will upload it and enable the captioning feature on the YouTube video

4. The Media team will then contact you to confirm that the new captions have been added to the video

However, if you feel the automatic captions only need minor alterations:

1. Contact the Media team with a link to the YouTube video which you would like to amend

2. The Media team will download an automated caption file and email this to you

3. Amend the caption file to accurately reflect the words spoken in the video

4. To ensure its accuracy, please have at least 1 other person proofread the amended caption file

5. Email the proofread caption file back to the Media team who will upload it and enable the captioning feature on the YouTube video

6. The Media team will then contact you to confirm that captions have been added to the video