How Do I Add Captions to Lecture Videos?

To caption a lecture recording, create or obtain a timed caption track, review it against the actual audio, and test it in the player students will use. A transcript alone is not synchronized captions for a video.

Generate or import a track

Use the institution's enabled recording-platform workflow or a captioning service. Availability can depend on account settings, language and product tier. Consult current YouTube, Zoom, Panopto or Kaltura documentation for the deployed service instead of assuming every upload automatically receives captions.

Import a supported file such as SRT or WebVTT where appropriate. Check the receiving platform's formats, language settings and whether the uploaded track replaces or supplements an existing track.

Review the actual content

Compare captions with speech, technical terms, proper names and equations. Identify speakers where needed and include meaningful sounds. Correct omitted, invented or misleading text. Check synchronization, completeness, readability and placement in the final player.

Automatic captions can be a starting point, but their accuracy varies. Human-produced captions also need acceptance checks. There is no universal word-accuracy percentage, line length or one-second timing allowance that alone establishes WCAG conformance.

W3C's caption guidance explains the content and quality considerations. The complete applicable WCAG criterion also contains its scope and exceptions. Prerecorded video, live media and audio-only content require their own assessment.

Make the process sustainable

Record who reviews the track and when it is accepted. Recheck it when audio changes. Estimate review effort from representative recordings, including difficult terminology and overlapping speech, rather than promising a fixed editing-time multiplier. Obtain current written quotes for external captioning.

Provide a student reporting route and coordinate urgent access needs with disability services. Describe essential visual information that the audio does not convey; captions do not replace that work.

Aelira's beta multimedia paths have specific support and verification limits. Inspect the current source and release documentation and test the actual output. A completed scan or generated transcript does not certify caption quality or the entire media experience.