Captioning for Videos
Captioning translates the audio part of a video into captions which appear at the bottom of the screen. The ‘closed’ part means that the text is hidden until it is selected.
Video Tutorials related to Close Captioning:
- Introduction to Closed Captioning
- How to Edit Closed Captions on YouTube
- How to Upload Transcripts to YouTube Videos
- When YouTube Automatic Closed Captioning Goes Wrong
- Automatic Timing Feature in YouTube
McMaster Captioning Standard:
- In progress
- Where possible, please caption, as indicated below:
| Length of Video | Captioning Solution |
| 3-5 minutes | YouTube auto-generated captions, with manual clean-up |
| 5-60+ minutes | Upload to Rev.com – if less than 60 minutes, returned within 24 hours @ $1/minuteBuild into the cost of producing all new videos and have captioned at point of creation. |
| Commercial videos | Need to get permission to caption, then provide digital copy to Rev.com, as above |
| Lecture Captures | No viable solution yet – average 3 hours long – only used for one term – very costly |
Questions, help, guidance? Contact: captioning@mcmaster.ca
Not sure where to submit a request for captions?
Take a look at our Caption Resource List from McMaster Library Accessibility Services
Why Do I Need to Close Caption my Video?
Captioning makes auditory information available to those who do not have access to audio. Inclusive Media cites a number of reasons to caption your web videos in their resource Reasons to caption web videos.
In addition to this, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) requires that in order to meet legislative compliance:
- Any video added to a [McMaster] website AFTER 2014, or being used in a class, presentation, public talk, or online course MUST be properly closed captioned – either as part of the production process, or retroactively.
Audio Descriptions
Audio descriptions make visual information available to those who do not have access to the visual components of the video or animation.
If a video or animation is created with accessibility in mind, and important visual elements are described or referenced in the audio track, then audio descriptions are unnecessary. However, when describing the visual elements of the video is inappropriate for the content, a second version of the video that includes audio description can be created.
The WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) group provides suggestions on how to meet the audio description guideline (1.2.3. Level A):
Meeting the audio description guideline
Using extended audio description (meaning that the audio track includes pauses to fully describe visual content rather than waiting for gaps in dialogue or narration):