How to use video captions on YouTube

1. Open the video you want to watch
2. If captions are available, the CC icon will be visible in the bottom right-hand corner of the video player
3. To turn on captions, select the CC icon
4. To turn off captions, select the CC icon .

The captions may be ones that have automatically been created by YouTube or ones that have been edited by the user to make them more accurate.

On a computer

1. Select your profile picture
2. Select Settings
3. From the left-hand menu, select ‘Playback and performance’
4. Tick or untick ‘Always show captions’
5. Tick or untick ‘Include auto-generated captions (when available)’. This option turns on or off automatic captions for videos that do not have captions.

On Android

1. Select your profile picture
2. Select ‘Settings’
3. Select ‘Captions’
4. Select ‘Show captions’ to always show captions when they’re available.

On iOS

1. Open your device’s Settings app
2. Go to ‘Accessibility’
3. Under the ‘Hearing’ section, select ‘Subtitles & captioning’
4. Select ‘Closed Captions + SDH’ to always show captions when they’re available.

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio
2. From the left-hand menu, select ‘Subtitles’
3. Select the video that you want to add captions to
4. Select ‘ADD LANGUAGE’ and select your language
5. Under ‘subtitles’, select ‘ADD’

Before you start, check your file type is supported on YouTube.

Follow ‘create captions’ steps 1-5.

6. Select ‘Upload file’

7. Choose between ‘With timing’ or ‘Without timing’, then select ‘Continue’

8. Select a file to upload

9. Select ‘Save’.

You can create subtitles and captions by entering them in as you watch the video. You will need to set the timing to synchronise with your video with this option.

Follow ‘create captions’ steps 1-5.

6. Select ‘Auto-sync’

7. Enter the words in the video or upload a transcript file. Read YouTube’s tips for creating a transcript file

8. Select ‘EDIT’, then select ‘SAVE AND CLOSE’.

You can choose to type or paste a transcript of your captions and subtitles. With this option, your subtitle and caption timings will be set automatically.

Follow ‘create captions’ steps 1-5.

6. Select ‘Type manually’
7. Play the video and enter your captions or subtitles. Don’t forget to add text like [applause] or [thunder] so viewers know what’s going on in the video. You can also pause while typing.
8. Select ‘PUBLISH’.

On a computer

1. In the bottom right-hand corner of the video player, select ‘Settings’
2. Select ‘Subtitles/CC’
3. Select ‘Options’.

You can customise:

• Font, colour, opacity, and size
• Background colour and opacity
• Window colour and opacity
• Character edge style.

On Android

1. Select your profile picture
2. Select ‘Settings’
3. Select ‘Captions’
4. Select ‘Caption size and style’ to change the default size and font.

On iOS

1. Open your device’s Settings app
2. Select ‘Accessibility’
3. In the ‘Hearing’ section, select ‘Subtitles & captioning’
4. Select ‘Style’ to change the size and style for the display and font
5. Select ‘Create New Style’ for more font styles, sizes, and colours.