University Libraries Learning YouTube: Adding Captions to Video

Captions on video content are essential to ensure that content is accessible to all users. 

Videos that do not have a caption file associated with them will be removed from the YouTube Channel. 

Adding captions to your YouTube videos using automatic captioning

YouTube uses speech recognition technology and machine learning algorithms to automatically generate captions for videos. For captioning to work correctly for videos recorded in English, you must select 'English (United States)' as your video language during the upload process.

After your video has been successfully uploaded, the captioning process will begin. Depending on factors such as the length of your video and the current demands on YouTube servers, automatic captions may take up to a full day to be generated. When they are generated, you can access the generated captions by navigating to YouTube, logging in with our institutional credentials, and navigating to our channel. Once there, locate the video you wish to edit and select the details option on that video. 

Once on the video details screen, select 'Subtitles' from the left sidebar. 

When your automatic captions have been generated, you will see a file in the subtitles section with a language of 'English (Automatic)'. Select 'Duplicate and Edit' on this file to proofread and copy edit your captions.