Education

What is the difference between closed captions and open captions

If you create video, you will know that captions are important for a variety of accessibility reasons. And, yes, there is a difference between closed captions and open captions. We explain below, but first…

What are captions?

Captions are the words (and sounds) you sometimes see scrolling along the bottom of a video, film, or social media post.  Essentially, captions provide a text version of all the audio content from a video. Captions include all the spoken words and also any audible sounds in the video like [car horn], [music], or [laughter]. Lastly, captions will sometimes include the name of the person speaking.

What is the difference between closed captions and open captions?

The difference between closed captions and open captions is actually quite simple:

Close captions: can be turned off by the user

Open captions: cannot be turned off by the user

Close captions are the most common method across a wide variety of media. This is because the user has the ability to control whether the captions are displayed. Most media players and social media platforms support closed captioning. Usually this is indicated by a small CC symbol at the bottom of the video. Simply click this icon and captions will be displayed.

Alternatively, open captions (also known as “burned-in subtitles” are hard-coded into your video. There is no way to turn them off. Open captions are great when you want your captions to look the same no matter what format you video is being played. Open captions also allow the creator to have full control over how the captions are displayed. Specifications like font color, font style, font size, background color, and positioning are all at the video creators discretion. 

As always it’s best to make your content accessible following guidelines from the Web Content Accessibility Standards.

How to get captions for videos?

If you are looking for the best caption creator online, then you should consider Sonix. Sonix’s subtitle creator brings together automated transcription, automated translation, and automated subtitles for the world’s most powerful caption and subtitle creator.

Click here for 30 free transcription minutes

Jamie Sutherland

Recent Posts

How to Use ChatGPT for Meeting Notes

Taking meeting notes is a crucial task for any business, ensuring important decisions, actions, and…

2 days ago

How to Enable Transcription in Teams

These days, effective communication is vital for success. Microsoft Teams has emerged as a key…

3 weeks ago

Rev Review

Rev is a well-known name in the transcription and captioning space, offering fast and accurate…

1 month ago

Notta AI Review

As transcription services become increasingly important for both businesses and individuals, platforms like Notta AI…

2 months ago

How to Record a Webex Meeting

Virtual meetings have become an integral part of professional communication, with platforms like Webex leading…

2 months ago

How to Become a Transcriptionist

Becoming a transcriptionist is a promising career path that offers flexibility, allowing you to work…

2 months ago

This website uses cookies.