Problems uploading to CaptionSync Website

Uploading files for Closed Captioning with CaptionSync can be affected by the quality of your connection. This article shows some troubleshooting tips.

Patience is key when uploading media files. With many high speed Internet connections, uploads are significantly slower than downloads. For example if you have a 300 kbps upload speed, a 30 MB file will probably take about 30 minutes to upload.

Getting a Browser Error:

Common causes for not getting to the “successful upload” page using the CaptionSync website include:

• Running the Submission page with plugins or add-ons enabled. Browser plugins or add-ons can interfere with the submission process, so please disable them when placing a new request.

• Multiple windows/tabs in the same web browser connected to CaptionSync. Our website uses cookies, so if you have multiple windows logged into your AST account on the same computer this can cause issues. Best bet is to have just a single window logged in to your AST account.

• Closing the browser window or refreshing the web page, before the upload is complete. With many high speed Internet connections, uploads are significantly slower than downloads. Closing the window, refreshing the page, or navigating to a different page during the upload will abort it, so just be patient and wait for the confirmation message in the browser window.

• Closing the browser window before the audio analysis is complete. The progress bar will show the progress of the upload; once the upload is complete, the progress bar will report that your audio file is being analyzed (Upload Complete. Please Wait message). Closing the window or navigating to a different page during the audio analysis will abort the submission. Allow the analysis to complete (which may take a bit of time for large files), then you will see a Success page reporting that the submission is complete.

• Trying to upload a file that is too large. AST's website currently allows files up to 2 GB in size. If your file is larger than that, check out these alternative methods to submit your file.    

• Insufficient Prepaid balance. If you have a prepaid account, make sure you have enough credits to cover the length of your file.

• Less common causes include:
  • Poor wireless signal. If you are using a wireless connection, try going to a wireline connection. A Wifi connection could periodically be dropped if you are at the edge of a coverage area. If you can, try a solid ethernet connection. If you're already using ethernet, maybe a different (new) patch cable is in order.
  • Bad CAT5 cables. Cables from your computer to your router or from the router to the internet connection may be causing the issue. Try replacing the CAT5 patch cord (the ethernet cable) coming out of your computer, or try a different computer. Note that just because you can visit other web sites does not mean that your patch cord is ok – many patch cord problems only show up when you try to upload a lot of data.
  • IT firewall rules. Sometimes IT departments clamp down (or drop) connections which are moving significant amount of data outbound as a preemptive strategy. You might want to check that this is not happening.
  • DHCP address changing. The IP address your computer uses can change from time to time (either based upon what is called lease time or if you move to a different Wifi base station). When it changes, it is transparent to short connection based services like web-browsing or fetching email. It is not transparent to upload software however.
  • A bad router. Routers often get flaky before they die completely. If you have access to the router, try bypassing it, swapping it out, or power-cycling it.
  • A misconfigured IP connection. Try uploading from a different computer to see if this resolves the problem.

If you're using IE 6, please upgrade, as our site was designed to work with modern compliant browsers such as Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or IE 8 (though it will work with IE 7 too). Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and IE 11 are all available as free downloads.

If you get one of the “Safari can't open….” messages in the browser window, we'd recommend you use Firefox on bigger uploads. Safari's timeout waiting for a reply on an upload is too tight and it gives up while Firefox will wait it out. Similarly, if you a “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage…” message in IE, we'd recommend you use Firefox.

Still Having Browser Issues?

Place your media file in an online platform, like YouTube, Vimeo or Dropbox, and then use our List of URLs feature to submit it.

If you have a lot of files, you can use our AST-Link 2.x for Windows app or our AST-Link G2.x on the Mac app, both of which use SFTP. Both allow you to simply drag and drop multiple files instead of submitting one-at-a-time via the web. And SFTP is much more robust than HTTPS.

Uploading a large file (> 2 GB):

If you want to upload large files (> 2 GB), learn more about the different methods available.

Getting CaptionSync Error Messages:

If your file uploaded, but you get a message from the CaptionSync website (as opposed to your browser telling you it could not connect, for example), first and foremost please read the message (and note it down for any support ticket you open).

Error messages fall into two broad categories: Problems with the Media File and Problems with the Transcript File.

Media File hosted in Adobe Connect:

If your file is hosted in Adobe Connect, learn more about how to submit it.