Add caption tracks to your video files - Computer (original) (raw)
You can make your video content available to a larger audience when you add captions. If you want to reach deaf, hard-of-hearing viewers, or speakers of different languages, captions help these groups understand your videos.
To add caption tracks, use a caption file, which contains the text and other information to time your captions with your video.
Prepare your caption file
A subtitle or closed caption file contains the text of what's said in the video. It also contains time codes for when each line of text should be displayed. Some files also include position and style info, which is especially useful for deaf or hard of hearing viewers. See what file formats Drive supports below.
Basic File Formats
If you’re new to creating caption files, we recommend using one of the following basic file types:
| Format name | File extension | More info |
|---|---|---|
| SubRip | .srt | Only supports basic versions of these files. No style info or markup is recognized. The file must be in plain UTF-8. |
| SubViewer | .sbv or .sub | Only supports basic versions of these files. No style info or markup is recognized. The file must be in plain UTF-8. |
| MPsub (MPlayer subtitle) | .mpsub | "FORMAT=" parameter is supported. |
| LRC | .lrc | No style info or markup is recognized. Enhanced format is supported. |
| Videotron Lambda | .cap | This file type is primarily for Japanese subtitles. |
If you’re new to creating caption files, you may want to use SubRip (.srt) or SubViewer (.sbv). They only require basic timing info, and can be edited using any plain text editing software.
The main difference between SubRip and SubViewer files is the format of the caption start and stop times. Here are examples of both formats:
SubRip (.srt) example
1
00:00:00,599 --> 00:00:04,160
>> ALICE: Hi, my name is Alice Miller and this is John Brown
2
00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:06,770
>> JOHN: and we're the owners of Miller Bakery.
3
00:00:06,770 --> 00:00:10,880
>> ALICE: Today we'll be teaching you how to make
our famous chocolate chip cookies!
4
00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:16,700
[intro music]
5
00:00:16,700 --> 00:00:21,480
Okay, so we have all the ingredients laid out here
SubViewer (.sbv) example
0:00:00.599,0:00:04.160
>> ALICE: Hi, my name is Alice Miller and this is John Brown
0:00:04.160,0:00:06.770
>> JOHN: and we're the owners of Miller Bakery.
0:00:06.770,0:00:10.880
>> ALICE: Today we'll be teaching you how to make
our famous chocolate chip cookies!
0:00:10.880,0:00:16.700
[intro music]
0:00:16.700,0:00:21.480
Okay, so we have all the ingredients laid out here
Advanced file formats
Use these file formats if you want to have more control over the styling (markup) or positioning of your captions.
| Format name | File extension | More info |
|---|---|---|
| SAMI (Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange) | .smi or .sami | Only timecodes, text, and simple markup (, , , and the color= attribute within a ) are supported. Positioning isn't supported. |
| RealText | .rt | Only timecodes, text, and simple markup (, , , and the color= attribute within a ) are supported. Positioning is not supported. |
| WebVTT | .vtt | In initial implementation. Positioning is supported, but styling is limited to , , since CSS class names aren't yet standardized. |
| TTML (Timed-Text Markup Language) | .ttml | In partial implementation. SMPTE-TT extensions supported for CEA-608 features. iTunes Timed Text (iTT) file format is supported; iTT is a subset of TTML, Version 1.0. Styling and positioning aresupported. |
| DFXP (Distribution Format Exchange Profile) | .ttml or .dfxp | These files types are interpreted as TTML files. |
Broadcast file formats
These file formats are typically used for closed captions for broadcast content (TV and movies) and support either of these standards:
Drive tries to display the captions from these files as if they were on a TV — with the same styling, color, and positioning.
| Format name | File extension | More info |
|---|---|---|
| Scenarist Closed Caption | .scc | These files have an exact representation of CEA-608 data.This is the preferred format whenever captions are based on CEA-608 features. |
| EBU-STL (binary) | .stl | European Broadcasting Union standard. |
| Caption Center (binary) | .tds | Supports CEA-608 features. |
| Captions Inc. (binary) | .cin | Supports CEA-608 features. |
| Cheetah (ASCII text) | .asc | Supports CEA-608 features. |
| Cheetah (binary) | .cap | Supports CEA-608 features. |
| NCI (binary) | .cap | Supports CEA-608 features. |
Upload captions
After you upload your video, you can add captions to it.
- On your computer, sign in to drive.google.com.
- Click the video you want to add captions to.
- Click More
Manage caption tracks.
- Click Add new caption tracks.
- Click Select file and choose a caption or transcript file.
- Choose the language for the captions and a name for the track.
- Click Upload.
Edit caption tracks
Delete captions
Translate captions
After the caption tracks to your videos are processed, you can translate them.
- On your computer, sign in to drive.google.com.
- Open the video with the caption track you want to translate.
- In the bottom right, click Settings
.
- At the bottom of the language list, click Auto-translate.
- Select a language from the list.
Sharing settings for captions
The video’s sharing settings also apply to captions. If someone else can edit the video, they can also upload, download, and edit captions for the video. Learn more about sharing files in Google Drive.
Caption error messages
If you get an error while uploading your file, make sure the file is:
- In the correct format. The file types listed under basic, advanced, and broadcast file types on this page are supported.
- Not too large. The caption file must be less than 2 MB.
- Not longer than the video. If the file is longer than the video, the video won’t be able to auto-sync.
Automatically generated captions
Available languages:
- Arabic
- Chinese
- Czech
- Dutch
- English
- Filipino
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Hindi
- Hungarian
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Malay
- Norwegian
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Russian
- Spanish
- Swedish
- Thai
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
- Vietnamese
You can easily add captions to your videos.
- In the Google Drive homepage, right-click on the video you want to add captions to.
- Click Manage caption tracks.
- Select a language.
Google Workspace Admins can turn on automatic captions for all uploaded videos in your company's Google Workspace.
Tips:
- Automatically generated captions will be turned on by default. Captions will generate automatically when you upload a video to Drive.
- Your Google Workspace Admin may require you to request caption generation.
- Your Google Workspace Admin may have this feature disabled.
File version changes
Captions only apply to the video version they’re uploaded to. If you add a new file version or delete the current one, the captions are removed. You can add new captions to the updated video version.
Get more help
For more Accessibility help, contact the Disability Support team.