How To Add Closed Captions To A YouTube Video

*My apologies for using the term "hearing impaired". Since the creation of this video in Feb 2012 I have been corrected by various viewers. Moving forward I will use the terms Hard of Hearing and/or Deaf. Thank you for educating me*

Table of Contents
1. Formatting Tips 00:53
2. Step by Step Instructions 03:34
3. Why Captions Are Great 05:53

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[bigalsimmons]

I have a friend Who's deaf (hearing impaired) and I know some sign language, but this is a good way for people to watch videos with out someone beside them signing it to them.      Great Job. 

[PhrasalVerbs]

I've just watched 5 different videos telling me how to do this and yours is the first that actually explained the whole process and made sense. Good Job!  Here's hoping it's that easy.

[BigNate]

Thank you for the kind feedback. I also wish more YouTubers would take advantage of the closed caption transcript feature. I decided I would take the time to add captions to all my videos. I even hired a couple people to type them up for me so I could get all the captions uploaded quickly. I think it's a big advantage for many reasons. Most important is that it helps communicate and include more people in the YouTube community.

[BigNate]

No problem. Glad you found this video helpful. I have been posting How-To vids regularly for about a year now and each month that goes by I get more views than the month before. I'm sure adding closed captions isn't hurting my view count, its hard to quantify how much it helps but I think its a plus.

[MinMax]

Dude, this is by far, the BEST tutorial i've seen so far. Plus, it seems that all the other videos are from 3 years ago, when all these new features weren't available, like translations. Keep up the good work! :D

[anivad]

A very helpful video. I particularly like the clarity of speach, no distracting music and examples. Thank you for doing this BigNat84.

[jumpinwired]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but I like using closed captioning while I'm in a noisy environment or a very quite environment that likes to stay quite. Clearly another good reason to add closed captioning to YouTube videos. Thanks

[fruitysudz]

I have been using MovieCaptioner to caption my videos. It's super easy to use and you don't have to keep stopping/starting your video to get the transcription down. It will keep repeating a 4 second loop till you're done typing that bit, then when you hit the Return/Enter key it records the caption and moves on to the next 4 seconds. Makes it go fast!

[GregBlunt]

Hearing impaired viewer and beginner on YouTube. GREAT video. This answered all my questions concerning the process. Also, thanks for speaking clearly and enunciating (didn't even need captions for it)!

[BigNate]

Your welcome! You just made my day. Love hearing good feeback. As @Nicogs97 suggested it's probably time for an updated video about this topic. I have learned a lot about captions since I created this video. Many new things to share!

[BigNate]

Hey! Thanks so much for the feedback. This is exactly the type of input I was looking for. The viewer of the video actually has complete control over where the captions appear on screen. Feel free to drag them around. Since I made this video I have been trying to improve upon my caption making skills. I no longer include text in the video near the bottom of the screen. At this pont I don't see a way to change location on my end. Keep the feedback coming, love it!

[BigNate]

Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated. It can be a tedious process. I believe it to be well worth it at least for the purposes of my channel. I want to reach as many people as possible. When I start writing a script for a YouTube video I create a plain text file in closed caption format so that when I am finished writing my script the closed captions are finished too.

[BigNate]

Now that's what I like to hear! Thanks for stopping by! Happy to help.

[BigNate]

Your welcome! I have not had this issue. The only thing I can think to suggest is to make sure you select the proper option before uploading. One option assumes you have time code inserted within your text file and the other option assumes you do not have timecode. Also make sure you create a name for the transcript in case that makes a difference. try again and let me know if it works. Second time is always a charm.

[BigNate]

Thanks for letting me know! I love getting feedback from people who are excited about captions. You can change the size of any caption. After turning on the "CC" button just press shift and use the -/+ buttons to change the size.

[BigNate]

Good question. I think your talking about the auto-translate feature. It is available and it does a word for word translation. Unfortunately word for word translations do not always make sense on other languages. If you want your captions to be accurate in other languages the only sure way I know is to create the captions in that language. You can upload multiple versions of the transcript.

[BigNate]

Thanks again! I will take a look at this document so I can improve my technique. I think I will make another video at some point in the future explaining some other details about captions on youtube. The end user can also change the font size and color of the text according to their personal preference. Take a look at the "settings" option when you click on the "CC" button. Lots of color options.

[cascadian]

Thank you so much for making this video. It was easy to follow.
Not every person who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing dislike the term "hearing impaired", but I'd recommend using the terms "deaf" or "hard of hearing".

[BigNate]

Thanks for the great feedback. Glad to help you out. You can manually insert timecode to get the captions to line up. You have to figure out the exact moment in time the word is being said. Once you figure this out you will have to put that timecode into the text file you have uploaded. It must be in a format like this hh:mm:ss (hours minutes, seconds). Here is an example 00:01:32. Let me know if this makes sense.

[TheTwinTeam]

Excellent video BigNate84 I totally agree that the videos must be subtitled and even for people with hearing difficulties to understand all kinds of content