How to Add Captions to YouTube Videos: The Ultimate Guide

What are captions, and why does your video need them?

Captions, also known as subtitles, are text that appears on screen to report spoken dialogue in the video. Contrary to what some people think, captions are not only useful for users who are hard of hearing. They also allow videos to be watched and understood in noisy spaces, such as public places, busy commutes, or crowded home environments.

It’s not uncommon for people to watch videos in noisy, bustling areas, and for this reason it’s crucial that your content can be understood even when it can’t be heard. Younger generations in particular are used to watching videos with captions, having their mobile devices muted much of the time because it’s simply not practical (or polite!) to have your favourite YouTube content blasting on full volume in the supermarket.

In short, you want your videos to be accessible by everyone, everywhere, at all times. Captions can help make this possible and are therefore a crucial part of modern video creation.

How to add YouTube captions

There are two main ways of adding captions to your YouTube content. One is doing so via YouTube itself. The other is by using video editing software, such as VideoStudio Pro, to add captions as part of the editing process. Let’s start with adding captions in YouTube:

1. On the YouTube website, sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. Click “Subtitles” on the left menu.
3. Click “Add Language” and select the language you wish to work in.
4. Under subtitles, click “Add.”

You will then have a few options. You can upload a premade caption file. This is a text document that is time coded so that it displays text at the relevant points in your video. Alternatively, you can add subtitles manually, or rely on YouTube’s automatic caption generator.

With the latter, don’t be surprised if you come across the occasional spelling error, as the automatic generator may “mishear” and mistranscribe certain words or phrases. If you’re looking for something more professional and error-free, creating your own subtitles is the best way to go.

Entering captions in YouTube itself allows users to switch them on and off. It is also possible to embed captions into the video file itself so that they are always displayed. This can be done using video editing software such as VideoStudio Pro.

Adding captions using VideoStudio Pro

VideoStudio Pro gives you complete creative control over your video editing process. It also has text tools allowing you to add subtitles to your video yourself, while giving you a greater range of fonts, sizes, and styles. This can allow you to include accessible captions while also making sure they fit the aesthetic of your video.

Another advantage of creating captions in this way is that you can ensure the captions will always appear in the video when it is exported. This means you don’t have to worry about other platforms generating incorrect or sloppy subtitles, nor do you have to worry about your content being inaccessible to users on platforms that don’t have automatic captioning tools built-in.

Conclusion

Captions are a vital part of modern, accessible video content. Audiences who are hard of hearing rely on them to be able to enjoy the same content as the hearing population. Others rely on them when they need to watch a video in a crowded or noisy place, or when they just want their device to stay muted.

Make sure your videos are keeping pace with the diversity and user-friendly nature of the modern web. Use YouTube tools to add captions or manually create your own in software such as VideoStudio Pro. Download a free trial today to make sure your captions look and feel the way you want them to.