How to add captions to your video

Use captions to share your videos with a larger audience 📖

Captions make your videos easier for viewers to watch and follow along. Captions help retain viewers' attention, especially for longer-form content, and provide strong SEO benefits on pages where videos are embedded.

Captions are also a critical part of digital accessibility and help your videos reach a larger audience, including deaf or hard-of-hearing viewers and viewers who speak another language.

Add a new caption

You can add captions to your video in several ways. You can create or upload your own captions, request free (computer-generated) captions, or pay for captions from a human transcriber (available to Starter plans and up).

1. Sign in to your Vidyard account, then select Library from the main menu
2. Select a video from your library, then select Captions
3. Open the dropdown menu to Add New Caption, then select one of the following options:
   • Request a caption - request free computer-generated captions (video max 4 hours, the detected language of your video), or paid human-transcribed captions for an English-language video (available to Starter, Teams, or Enterprise accounts)
   • Create your own caption - write your own video captions from scratch
   • Upload a caption file - use a caption file you already have (.srt or .vtt format)
4. Choose the language for your caption from the dropdown menu, then select Request/Create/Upload to continue
   

Request a caption (automated or paid)

You can request captions for your video from 1 of 2 different sources: automated (computer-generated) captions, or paid captions.

• Automated captions: Request computer-generated captions in that video's language, free of charge. These captions will be published automatically once they finish generating.
  • Select Detected Language (Automated) from the language dropdown menu to choose this option
  • Video can be a maximum of 4 hours
• Paid captions (Starter, Teams, or Enterprise accounts): Request human-transcribed captions from our third-party captions provider, Rev. Captions can be transcribed into multiple languages, so long as the video has English-language audio.
  • Users must belong to a Team with the Request paid captions permission to order captions from Rev
  • Learn more about the cost of paid captions and supported languages

If you would like to publish captions that you've requested as soon as they become available, select the Publish captions when complete checkbox before submitting your request. 

Create your own caption

Creating your own caption allows you to use Vidyard's built-in editor to write caption text for your video. Add cues to break up your caption text and adjust when words appear during the video. Once you select Create, you can choose a language for your captions from our list of supported options.

1. Select +Add Cue to enter new lines of caption text at specific moments throughout the video
2. Change the start and end timestamps for each cue to adjust when caption text appears during the video
   • The timestamps for each cue cannot overlap
3. Select Save when finished

Upload a caption file

Already have a caption file on hand? Choosing Upload a caption file allows you to select either an .srt or .vtt file from your computer.

Uploaded files should be UTF-8 encoded for an optimal experience (this is especially important for languages with special characters).

Automated captions

Vidyard now provides automated captions to every recorded or uploaded video (even after trimming), in the video's detected language. You'll see them in the Captions section on your video edit page.

If you delete your automated captions, you can use the Request feature to request a new set of captions for your video's language, free of charge.

Publish your captions

Once you're satisfied with the captions that you've created/uploaded/requested, click on the toggle next to the caption to change its status from Draft to Published.

Viewers who watch your video can then turn published captions ON/OFF from the video's player controls and select other published languages from the settings menu. Make sure that Captions are turned on in your video's design settings. 

Published captions are also injected into the metadata of your video when using the Inline or Lightbox embed codes. Learn more about how video captions contribute to page SEO.

Enable captions by default

Optionally, you can set one of your published captions on a video as the default caption. 

The default caption is enabled automatically for your viewers when the video begins to play. Make sure that Captions on by Default is turned on in your video's design settings.

1. Open the menu (3 dots) next to a caption
2. Select Set Default

If your video has captions in multiple languages, Vidyard may enable a caption other than your selected default if there's a published caption that matches the viewer's language preference. This happens when:

• A published caption matches the language of the viewer's browser
• There is a published caption that the viewer has previously selected when watching a video (Vidyard remembers viewers' language preferences)

Edit your captions in Vidyard

If you need to fix a typo or change the position of cues, you can always edit your caption file directly in Vidyard. This is especially helpful if you need to clean up any automated (computer-generated) captions that you've requested.

1. Select a video from your library, then select Captions
2. Click on the menu (3 dots) next to the caption you'd like to edit, then select Edit
3. Make any changes to your caption, including:
   • Adjusting the start and end timestamps for each cue (they cannot overlap)
   • Selecting X to delete any unnecessary lines
   • Using +Add cue to insert new lines of caption text
4. Select Save when finished
   • Editing a caption puts the file in draft mode. Make sure to publish your captions again when finished.

Download a caption file

Sometimes you need to download a caption file to save or make changes outside of Vidyard. Choose from several common file formats, such as .srt, .vtt, and .txt (with or without timestamps).

1. Open the menu (3 dots) next to a caption, then select Download
2. Click on the download icon next to the file format you want to export

Delete a caption

If you no longer require a set of captions, open the menu (3 dots) next to the caption you want to remove, then select Delete.

The deleted caption will no longer be available to viewers who watch the video. This action cannot be reversed.

Frequently asked questions

Why are my captions not appearing on my video?

If you do not see captions on your video, review our step-by-step troubleshooting guide to check the following:

• a) you have published your captions on the video
• b) you have the Captions setting enabled on your video

What languages are supported?

Below is the full list of supported languages for captions, along with their language code.

Can I change how my captions look (color, font, background, position)?

No, captions will appear on your video as white text on a black background. This cannot be changed.

Can I add emojis to my captions?

No, emojis are not supported. Video captions must use the standard formatting for either .vtt or .srt file types.

How do I format an .srt or .vtt caption file?

You may want to make changes directly to an .srt or .vtt caption file, either before you upload captions, or if you want to download captions and make changes outside of Vidyard.

You can edit most caption files with your computer's default text editor. Follow the formatting guidelines for these file types to avoid errors.

• How to format a .vtt file
• How to format an .srt file

Is there a video length limit on caption requests?

There can be a video length limit depending on the type of caption request.

• Automated caption - Video max of 4 hours
• Paid caption - No limit, but keep in mind -- the cost and time to complete the request increases proportionately

When using automated captions, if you need to transcribe a video over 4 hours, you can split your content into separate videos and stitch them together once the transcriptions are provided.

How am I charged for paid caption requests?

When you order a paid caption, we send the request to our third-party caption partner to transcribe. 

Paid caption requests are priced per minute (rounded up to the next whole minute) in US Dollars, plus applicable taxes based on your location (see table below for price list). For each request, you can review the total cost in Vidyard prior to confirming your order.

Paid captions are non-refundable once you submit the purchase order.

Example:

• Caption Language: English
• Video length: 2:25 minutes
• Cost: 3 mins x $1.88 = $5.64

At the end of each month, Vidyard emails a dedicated invoice for all paid caption requests to the billing contact we have on file for your account. You can pay the invoice by credit card, cheque, or wire payment. At this time, we cannot create separate invoices for different business units.

Does deleting a processing caption cancel my purchase?

If you request paid captions for your video and then delete the caption file while it is still being processed, this does not cancel the purchase. Once you submit a purchase order, you can't cancel paid caption requests, and they are non-refundable.

What is the turnaround time for my caption request?

Turnaround time varies based on your video length and whether the request is for an automated or paid caption transcript.

• For automated captions, the process should take approximately as long as the length of your video (e.g., a 10-minute video = roughly 10 minutes for captions to be ready).
• For paid caption requests through our partner Rev, estimated turnaround times are as follows:
  • 0-5 minute video = 2 hours
  • 5-10 minutes = 5 hours
  • 10-30 minutes = 9 hours
  • 30-60 minutes = 22 hours
  • 60+ minutes = 2 business days

Why am I not seeing automated captions for my video?

If you aren't seeing automated captions appear for your video, this may be because:

• You are a Free user who hasn't opted in to our terms and conditions (you will be unable to get automated captions or access the ability to create, request, or upload captions)
• You are a paid account that has opted out of AI features (automated captioning is powered by AI)

Free users who want to use automated captions should opt in in their Profile, and paid users can reach out to their CSM to opt in to AI features.

Why isn't my automated caption automatically published?

Automated captions are automatically published for any videos created after July 27, 2026. If your video was created before this, any requested automated captions will need to be manually published.