Question 1

Do I have to add captions or subtitles to my video?

Accepted Answer

Adding captions or subtitles to your video is highly recommended as it can significantly improve performance and accessibility. However, it’s not necessary to add them.

Captions increase engagement and make your content accessible to viewers who are hard of hearing and people watching with the sound off.

Plus, search engines use closed captions to categorize and rank your content. By including relevant keywords, you can target your audience better.

Question 2

How do I add captions or subtitles to a video?

Accepted Answer

To add captions or subtitles to a video with Riverside, open your video in the video editor and use the captions tool to generate and style them. Riverside automatically creates a transcript of your video recording.
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Here’s how:

‍Step 1: Open your video in the Riverside editor.‍
Step 2: Click the captions icon in the editing toolbar.‍
Step 3: Choose a preset style or customize the font, color, size, alignment, and animation.
Step 4: Drag the captions to your preferred position in the video.

You can also download an SRT file from your project dashboard to upload as closed captions on other platforms.

Question 3

What’s the difference between captions and subtitles?

Accepted Answer

The difference between captions and subtitles is that captions include dialogue and relevant sounds, while subtitles include only spoken dialogue.

Captions improve accessibility for people who are hard of hearing by describing audio cues. Meanwhile, subtitles typically display dialogue without background sound information.

Learn more in our full guide on captions vs. subtitles.

Question 4

What’s the difference between closed and open captions? Which is better for my video?

Accepted Answer

The difference between closed and open captions is that viewers can turn closed captions on or off, while open captions are always on display.

Open captions are embedded in the video file and work well for social media where viewers often watch without sound. Closed captions use a separate transcript file, such as an SRT file, and can improve search visibility because platforms can index the text.

The better option depends on where you publish: use open captions for social feeds and closed captions for platforms that support searchable transcripts.

To help you make an informed decision, read our guide on closed vs. open captions.

Question 5

How do I add captions or subtitles to Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok videos?

Accepted Answer

To add captions or subtitles to Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok videos, use each platform’s auto-caption tool or generate captions before uploading.While these in-app tools are easy to use, they may be less accurate for accents, dialects, or non-English languages.

Using a dedicated transcription tool like Riverside, you’ll get more accurate captions without the hassle of doing it separately on every platform you upload to. This ensures you’re consistent throughout all social platforms.

Question 6

How can I add an SRT file to a YouTube video?

Accepted Answer

To add an SRT file to a YouTube video, generate and download your SRT transcript, then upload it to YouTube Studio under the subtitles section of your video.
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To generate an SRT transcript file using Riverside, just follow these steps:

Record your video as usual, or upload one.
In your recording’s page, go to “Tracks” to find your transcript.
Download your transcript and make sure to select the SRT format.

Learn more about this topic in our beginner’s guide to adding captions and subtitles to YouTube videos.

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