Captioning using YouTube

Creating Subtitles and Closed Captions:

1. Choose the language for the subtitles or closed captions you want to create. Use the search bar to find languages that don't automatically show in the list. If you've already started working on a language, you can select it from My drafts.
2. In the draft for the language you want to work on, play the video. If your fans have added updates since your last version, you'll see a "Your fans submitted an update" notice at the top of that language draft's screen.
3. When you get to the part where you want to add something, type your content into the box. Don't forget to add text describing other sounds happening in the video. For example, you can add sounds like applause or thunder as [applause] or [thunder] so viewers know what's going on in the video.
4. If you need to, adjust when the caption starts and ends by dragging the borders around the text under the video.
5. Repeat this process for all the spoken words in the video. If you don't have time to finish the whole video, your changes will be saved in your drafts and you can pick up again later.
6. When you're done, select Publish.

To speed up your work, you can also use these keyboard shortcuts:

• Shift + left arrow: Seek back one second. 
• Shift + right arrow: Seek forward one second. 
• Shift + space: Pause or play the video.
• Shift + enter: Add a new line.
• Shift + down arrow: Edit next subtitle.
• Shift + up arrow: Edit previous subtitle.
• Enter: Add the subtitle.

Upload a file

Transcribe and auto-sync (original video language only)

You can transcribe your video and automatically line up your text with the speech in the video. A transcript contains the text of what is said in a video, but no time code information, so you need to set the timing to sync with your video.

Automatic timing for captions

Note: Since the transcript text is automatically synchronized to your video, the transcript must be in a language supported by our speech recognition technology and in the same language that's spoken in the video. Transcripts are not recommended for videos that are over an hour long or have poor audio quality.

Note: If you’re in YouTube Studio, click Creator Studio Classic in the left menu to follow these steps.

1. Select Add new subtitles or CC. Choose the language for the subtitles or closed captions you want to create. You can use the search bar to find languages that don't automatically show in the list.
2. Select Add new subtitles or CC.
3. Underneath the video, click Transcribe and auto-sync.
4. Type all of the spoken audio in the text field. If you're creating closed captions, make sure to incorporate sound cues like [music] or [applause] to identify background sounds.
5. Click Set timings to sync your transcript with the video.

Setting the timings can take a few minutes. While you wait, you'll be brought back to the video tracklist. Once it's ready, your transcription will automatically be published on your video.

Tip: Check out our tips for creating transcript files.

Use automatic captioning

YouTube can use speech recognition technology to automatically create captions for your videos. If automatic captions are available, they'll automatically be published on the video. Learn how to review, edit, or unpublish automatic captions.

Automatic captions are available in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.