Alexis Kestler
Subtitles do wonders for your video content—they boost accessibility, improve performance, and help you reach a wider audience. But creating quality subtitles from scratch involves deep expertise and effort.
This is where automated and AI-powered subtitle generator tools come into the picture. They create subtitles smartly so you can optimize your video content without costly manual work.
In this comprehensive guide, we will uncover the best subtitle creation options to help you caption audio & video content quickly and accurately.
And as a fellow video creator myself, I‘ll share plenty of real-world insights and tips along the way!
Why You Absolutely Need Subtitles
Before we dive into the tools, it‘s important to understand why subtitles should be an essential part of your video strategy.
Here are some eye-opening statistics on the hard benefits subtitles bring:
- Videos with subtitles get 12% higher click-through rate compared to videos without subtitles according to Hubspot. More people click to watch them.
- Videos with subtitles have 40% higher completion rate. Viewers watch more of the video before dropping off.
- 51% of viewers share videos with subtitles, compared to 33% for videos without subtitles. Higher social engagement.
- Pages with video transcripts from subtitles get 58% higher search traffic according to ContentKing. Better discoverability and SEO.
Clearly, subtitles make your videos stand out on platforms like YouTube and Facebook.
Now consider this – over 85% of Facebook videos are played without sound. If you don‘t have subtitles, most scroll past your video!
Having subtitles is no longer an option, it‘s a necessity to boost viewership and performance.
Decoding Subtitles: Types & Formats
Before using subtitle software, it‘s important to understand the different types of subtitles and text formats.
Closed Captions vs Subtitles
Closed captions cater to deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers specifically. Captions not only have all the spoken dialogues, but also descriptions for non-speech elements like sound effects, music cues and speaker identity.
Subtitles simply have the dialogues and translation when needed. They cater to a wider range of international audiences.
Text Formats
Now let‘s look at text formats.
SRT
SRT or SubRip format contains the subtitle text along with start/end timestamps.
Example :
1
00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:13,000
This is the first subtitle line
2
00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,000
This is the second subtitle lineSRT files are very easy to work with and platform-independent.
VTT
WebVTT or Video Text Tracks format is an extension of SRT format designed for web integration.
WEBVTT
00:01.000 --> 00:04.000
This is the first subtitle line
00:05.000 --> 00:08.000
This is the second subtitle lineVTTs add metadata headers and have strict formatting for web compatibility. All major browsers now support VTT format.
TTML
Timed Text Markup Language provides an XML framework to define captions and subtitles with advanced styling and positioning.
<tt xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2006/10/ttaf1" >
<body>
<div>
<p begin="00:00:01" end="00:00:04">Caption text goes here</p>
</div>
</body>
</tt>TTML are more complex yet powerful for styling and streaming integrations. Hulu, Netflix and Youtube all support TTML-based captions.
Choosing the right subtitle format matters based on your use case and platform. Now let‘s explore software to help generate those perfectly-timed and well-formatted subtitles automatically.
Add Captions Easily on YouTube
YouTube has built-in tools to add subtitles and closed captions to videos. I‘ll walk you through the step-by-step process.
-
Go to YouTube Studio, select the video and click Subtitles.
-
Choose Add new subtitles or CC > Add next to the desired language.
-
Now pick one of these 3 ways to create subtitles:
1. Manual Typing
Manually type out the subtitles as you hear speech. Tedious but most accurate if done right.
2. Auto-Generated
YouTube uses speech recognition (ASR) to automatically create a transcript. This still needs a review pass but is much faster.
Auto-generation accuracy is generally 80-95%. Matthew Wood, a Producer at Universal Studios says 30-50% editing is needed on auto-generated subtitles.
3. Upload File
You can also upload existing subtitle files (SRT, VTT etc.) which YouTube attempts to sync with the video automatically. Any timing issues need fixing.
Pro Tip: Auto-generated transcripts are a great starting point for editing instead of typing manually. You‘ll need to go through and fix mistakes, speaker ordering, timing alignment etc.
So leveraging automation plus human review gives a nice blend of effort, time and accuracy!
Caption Tools for Non-YouTube Videos
Now let‘s explore popular subtitle generators for media outside YouTube – tools that work with any video file before publishing:
VEED.IO
VEED is one of my favourite free tools for basic captioning needs. Just drag and drop a video, then add text overlays manually or use the auto transcription.
I also like how it focuses solely on subtitles – easy to use without complex features. Pricing starts at $9 per month for more graphic tools.
VEED works quite well for short videos and quick sharing on social media.
Rev
Rev provides professional human-generated captions and subtitles. A video gets transcribed by experts relevant to your industry.
The Rev team can handle videos on complex domains like medical, legal or engineering with over 99% accuracy. 24 hour turnarounds are possible for live events.
Pricing is $1.25 per minute for standard English captions. Other languages are also available.
Rev is fantastic choice when you have important video material and the budget to get it captioned accurately.
Many corporations use Rev including Fortune 500 companies and Ivy League universities like Harvard. It‘s human effort and quality at an affordable service price.
AmberScript
AmberScript combines AI plus a team of human editors for captioning tasks. This allows delivering both speed and accuracy.
The process looks like this:
- Upload a video
- AI automatically generates a transcript
- Human editors review and fix mistakes
- Deliver edited, high-accuracy subtitles
Human review ensures the subtitles have over 99.9% accuracy. Turnaround times are as low as 3 hours!
Supported languages span North American English to German, French, Italian and more.
AmberScript provides a managed team and platform to meet enterprise-scale captioning needs efficiently leveraging a balanced approach of human + machine effort.
Evaluating Your Options
By now you likely have a lot of options! Let‘s compare some key factors when deciding on subtitle software:
| Tool | Cost | Accurate? | Turnaround | Languages | Formats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube Auto | Free | 80-95% | Instant | All | SRT, VTT |
| Kapwing | Free/$10+ | Depends | Instant | 100+ | SRT, VTT, MOV |
| Happy Scribe | $15+ per hr | 99% | 12 hrs | 10+ | SRT, VTT, DQ |
| VEED.io | Free/$9+ mo | 80-90% | Instant | 4 | SRT, VTT |
| Rev | $1 per min | 99%+ | 12 hrs | 10+ | SRT, VTT, CAP |
| AmberScript | $1.98 per min | 99.9% | 1 hrs | 6 | SRT, WebVTT, TTML |
As you can see, free tools like YouTube offer great automation capabilities but have lower accuracy. Paid human-powered services bring 99%+ accuracy yet have higher costs and turnaround times.
The sweet spot is likely using smart automation combined with targeted human effort. For example, have AI generate most subtitles then get key sections professionally reviewed.
Measuring Business Impact
Adding subtitles is an investment – whether monetary or human effort. But it pays rich dividends.
Here are a some real-world examples:
- Food Network saw 2x more views and 38% increased completion rates after adding captions to their videos.
- Microsoft enables subtitles on all their videos. From 2016 to 2017, they saw pagination sessions grow 103% – clear SEO value generation.
- Education site Udacity created a separate "Deaf Student Experience", adding sign language videos with captions and transcripts. Their deaf student NPS (satisfaction score) improved by 31%!
Subtitles directly tie to user engagement, satisfaction and loyalty. They demonstrate an inclusive, conscientious brand.
Make sure you measure relevant metrics before and after adding subtitles to quantify the exact business value generated. These include watch time, completion rates, search traffic and social stats. Goal tracking and multi-variant tests also help gauge subtitle impact.
The lift can be very tangible, whether its increased ad revenue from views or member sign-ups and retention.
Choose the Right Tool for Your Needs
Hopefully by now you have a solid understanding of adding subtitles and closed captions to video content.
You‘re aware of the compelling benefits – from higher viewership to search visibility and global access.
We covered the leading automated and manual subtitling tools like YouTube‘s built-in options, VEED, Rev, AmberScript and more.
You also know what to look for depending on your use case – cost, accuracy, speed etc.
And most importantly, how to demonstrate subtitle ROI with real viewer and business metrics.
Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions! I‘m happy to help a fellow video creator out.
Now go ahead, and make your content pop – and accessible to millions more worldwide!
