Captioning your own YouTube Videos

Captioning your own YouTube videos is easy with CaptionSync. YouTube provides a mechanism for video owners to upload a caption file along with their video file. The caption file can be added at any time. This tutorial shows how this is done.

If you want to caption YouTube videos you don't own, see this article instead.

NOTE: At no additional charge, CaptionSync has the ability to deliver caption files directly into your YouTube account, when a Transcription/Captioning request is made via our List of URLs feature. Learn how to use this feature in our YouTube integration tutorial.

Tutorial:

We recommend using the .srt output with YouTube videos, but YouTube currently supports the following file formats provided by CaptionSync:

• .srt - SubRip
• .scc - Scenarist Closed Caption
• .smi - Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange
• .dfxp - Distribution Format Exchange Profile
• .lrc - For lyrics
• .rt - RealText
• .cap - Cheetah binary captions
• .asc - Cheetah text captions

Submitting your Media for Captioning:

• In your CaptionSync account, go to Caption/Transcribe -> New List of URLs for Captioning -> Advanced Settings. Under the Output Types tab, ensure the SRT format is selected.

• Make your Captioning request, using your media file. You can submit the YouTube URL to your media file using our List of URLs feature.

• Once results are available, download the .srt file from the Results Email or the Submission Details Page.

Importing the Captions into YouTube:

• Log into your YouTube account, click your avatar and open YouTube Studio:

• Click Content, on the left-hand side panel. Then click the video you want to add captions to, so that you land on the Video details page. On the left-hand side panel, click Subtitles and then click Add Language:

• Select the language the content is in. You will see a new line appear on the Video subtitles table. Under the Subtitles column, click Add. On the next screen, click Upload file:

• On the 'file type' dialog box, select With timing, and click Continue. Browse for the .srt caption file stored in your computer, and click Open:

• Finally, click Publish:

• You can use the text editor to make changes to the text before publishing the captions. If you do so, ensure you click Publish when you're done.

• You can also delete existing caption files (for example, YouTube's 'automatic' captions). On the Video subtitles table, hover your cursor next to 'Edit' and click the three dots. Select Delete and confirm on the next screen:

Turn on captions on YouTube's player:

• To watch captions being displayed on the player, click the Settings icon and then Subtitles:

• Then click the caption file you uploaded:

• Finally, you should see captions being displayed: 

Additional Notes:

• YouTube describes how to import a caption file in their Support article on this topic.

• We have an article describing known issues and tips regarding YouTube's Captioning feature.