If you are in need of closed captions or subtitles and want an easy tool, check out Sonix. Regardless, both subtitles and captions are designed to make the video easier to consume regardless of who is watching, they mean different things around the world. You can use the words subtitles and captions interchangeably. In the United Kingdom and many other countries, the definition of subtitles and captions is murky. In the United States and Canada captions and subtitles follow what we have described above. Move when they cover up things in the videoĪre video subtitles the same around the world?.Do not include non-speech sound elements.Users can usually select subtitles by clicking the same CC icon they would use to turn on captions. Video subtitles are often referred to as translations. They are intended for viewers who can hear audio, but cannot understand the language spoken. This further results in different features that are available in the closed caption but absent in open captions, such as. Subtitles on the other hand are only a text display of spoken words. The main difference between Open and Closed Captions is that open captions are not uploaded as a separate file but are attached to the video file only, while closed captions are uploaded separately. This article explains: the difference between open captions and closed captions. Note that captions come in two forms: closed captions and open captions. Basically any spoken word and any non-speech elements are displayed in text form at the bottom of the screen so that those with hearing disabilities can follow along with the video much more easily. Subtitles are intended for viewers who can’t understand the language being spoken versus captions which are intended for viewers who can’t hear the audio.Ĭaptions include all the sounds such as, , and things like. The main difference between captions and subtitles is this. But depending on what appears along the bottom of your screen will define whether they are captions or subtitles. If you’ve ever watched a foreign film you’ll be familiar with the text that runs across the bottom of the screen. Is there a difference between closed captions and subtitles? The short answer is yes.