What is a Closed Caption File?

Closed captioning is the visual representation of not only the spoken words within a video, but also text-based descriptions of non-language related audio such as music and sound effects. It's more than just a transcript. However, you may find yourself using a transcript file to create your closed captioning file.

Closed Captioning has a history in broadcast television stretching back to the early1970s. The next time you're at a party dropping useless knowledge on your friends you can use this fun fact: The first show to use closed captioning was "The French Chef" with Julia Childs in 1972. 

In dominKnow | ONE you can upload the following closed caption file types for a video:

• .srt
• .vtt
• .sbv
• .sub

NOTE: Apple's iOS devices only support VTT files. If you upload one of the other file types, closed captioning will not work on iOS devices.

3Play Media's Ultimate Guide to Closed Captioning is one of the best I've seen online. It may be overkill for your immediate needs. But hey, this stuff is important! If you're an eLearning developer please consider it part of your job to become over-educated in the ways of video closed captioning. 

There is a common misconception that subtitles and captions are synonamous. Subtitles are a transcription of the movie script and usually displayed in a language different from what is spoken as part of the audio track. And while you can use a subtitle file as a start to creating your closed captioning files, the difference is mainly in WHY you're creating the visual text for your movie. Subtitles are for those who don't speak the same language. Captions are for the hearing impaired. A straight script, for subtitling, will not have text like "crowd noise" or "Loud music", or other elements that help describe what is happening in the video. These descriptive elements are important for viewers with hearing limitations especially during scenes with little or no dialogue.