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Closed Caption Vs Open Caption- What’s the difference?
Closed captions and open captions are two ways to make your videos easily accessible to a wider audience.
Closed captions can be turned on or off by the viewer, while open captions are always visible because they’re embedded in the video.
Closed captions are great for making your videos accessible to everyone, including people who can’t hear properly. The best thing about them is that your viewers can easily turn them on or off. They’re typically used for video streaming, such as Netflix or in movie theaters.
Here’s an example of YouTube where you can turn on or off the captions with the help of the ‘CC’ button. The ‘CC’ stands for Closed Captions.
Open captions are different because they always appear on the screen, which is awesome for social media, since videos on TikTok or Instagram usually start playing without sound. They can’t be turned off and always roll up on the screen as you speak.
They’re great for making your videos visually appealing to your audience and increasing their views and engagement.
Here’s an example of how open captions look in videos:
Now that you have a basic understanding of open and closed captions. Let’s dive deeper into each type and discuss which one is best for your video content. We will also learn how to create automatic open or closed captions using BIGVU.
What Does Closed Caption Mean?
Closed captions are text versions of the spoken parts in a video. As discussed above, they cater to viewers who have hearing problems or want to ensure they understand everything you’re saying correctly.
They don’t show only dialogues, but also include background noises and sound effects to deliver a more complete auditory experience.
Your audience can turn them off or on, depending on their needs.
To use closed captions in your videos, you need to create an SRT file of that video. Then upload it to YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram with your video whenever you’re publishing it.
A big advantage of using closed captions is that it helps your videos rank high on YouTube or any other social media platform. When you upload a YouTube video, the platform doesn’t understand your video, but it can read the SRT file and present your video to users who are searching for it.
For example, we searched for ‘how to add captions in video’ on YouTube and got this result at the top.
This video appeared at the top because we not only optimized its title and description but also uploaded its SRT file on YouTube. That helped YouTube understand this video and show it to us when we searched for it.
Here’s that video:
Many people mistakenly believe that closed captions and subtitles are the same, but they are different. Although both provide text on screen, they have distinct purposes.
Subtitles are used to translate or transcribe dialogue for viewers who do not understand the spoken language.
How Do Closed Captions Appear on Different Social Media Platforms?
Instagram and Facebook
Instagram has a significant feature of adding auto-generated captions to your videos. When you enable this feature, your viewers can easily toggle closed captions on or off depending on their situation.
This same feature works on Facebook too.
YouTube
Like Instagram and Facebook, YouTube also gives the option of enabling or disabling the closed captions feature. Here’s how closed captions look on YouTube:
As you can see, YouTube offers flexibility to change the font family, color, size, and many other options, allowing viewers to easily customize it.
When Should You Use Closed Captions?
As a video creator, use closed captions, especially for making long explainer or how-to videos for YouTube.
This will help with SEO and rank your videos higher in YouTube search results.
How to Create 100% Accurate and Automatic Closed Captions for Videos?
Whether you’re a beginner with zero editing knowledge or a professional creator who wants to produce the highest quality videos, BIGVU lets you easily create and download SRT files and upload them to different social media platforms as closed captions.
Step 1: Import Your Video or Record with BIGVU Teleprompter
First, import your video directly to BIGVU, or record it using our free teleprompter. The advantage of using the BIGVU teleprompter is that you can read your script without memorizing it and record while maintaining eye contact with the camera.
Step 2: Select the Captions Language
In the next step, select the language in which you want your captions to appear.
Step 3: Download the SRT File
Open the video and click ‘Download SRT’ to download the SRT file. You can also translate it into other languages so that there’s no language barrier for viewers.
And that’s it...
In just three steps, you can create and download SRT files and then simply upload them to any social media platform for closed captions.
What Does Open Caption Mean?
Open captions are always visible in movies, TV, and online videos. They show audio information and dialogue on-screen, like closed captions or subtitles.
However, unlike closed captions, you can’t turn open captions on or off because they are permanently embedded in the video track.
Open captions are perfect for short social media videos, such as those for TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube shorts. If designed well and looking stunning, they can quickly grab the attention of your viewers and keep them engaged with your videos.
Today, 74% of Facebook videos are watched without sound. Imagine if your videos don’t have open captions; your viewers will skip them without watching them completely.
How Do Open Captions Appear on Different Social Media Platforms?
Here’s how stunning open captions look on Instagram reels or videos-
YouTube
For YouTube, you can create open captions for both regular videos and Shorts. Here’s how it will look on YouTube Shorts.
When Should You Use Open Captions for Your Videos?
You should use open captions when you’re creating advertisement videos for social media or when your videos are displayed in public places like airports, train stations, or waiting rooms where sound is often muted.
The primary role of your video ads is to hook your audience, and well-designed open captions do this well.
Second, most users watch videos on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with the sound off. So with open captions, your message in your Instagram Reel, YouTube Shorts or a TikTok video is still communicated to your audience even if the video is on mute.
How to Create 100% Accurate, Visually Appealing Automatic Open Captions for Videos?
Like closed captions, you can create 100% accurate and stunning open captions with BIGVU with just one tap.
The steps are almost similar to those of creating closed captions.
Step 1: Import Your Video or Record with BIGVU Teleprompter
Import your video directly to BIGVU or use our free teleprompter to record it.
Step 2: Choose Your Language and Open BIGVU Video Maker
In the next step, choose the language for your captions. Then, open BIGVU Video Maker to add captions and style your video.
Step 3: Fix Your Captions with AI
Although captions generated by BIGVU are almost accurate, we always suggest going through them once to fix any typos.
In fact, save time fixing typos with our AI Autofix feature.
Step 4- Style Them to Appeal Your Audience
Next, style your captions by choosing from various themes, colors, and animations to make them look marvelous and visually appealing to hook your viewers within the first few seconds.
Now, click on the ‘Create’ button to create and download your video with good-looking open captions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between open captions and closed captions?
Open captions are permanently embedded in the video and cannot be turned off, while closed captions can be toggled on or off by the viewer.
Which type of captions is better for SEO: open captions or closed captions?
Closed captions are beneficial for SEO because search engines can index the text content, making it easier to find your video. On the other hand, open captions, which are permanently embedded in the video, do not offer the same SEO advantages.
Can caption impact user engagement and watch time on videos?
Yes, captions can enhance user engagement by making the content more accessible and engaging. They can also help stick viewers to your videos, who may otherwise click away because of language barriers or noisy environments.
Conclusion- What to Choose Between Open and Closed Caption?
After considering all the points, you can now wisely choose between open and closed captions for your videos.
If you’re creating long YouTube or educational videos and want them to rank higher in searches, use closed captions. Closed captions are best for long-form video content as they allow the audience to choose whether they want captions on or off.
But if you’re creating video ads or short social media videos to entertain or educate viewers, use open captions. Open captions effectively grab the audience’s attention within the first few seconds, even when the sound is off.
Remember, the video marketing industry is booming, and as a content creator, you should never miss the opportunity to caption your videos, whether open or closed, for maximum engagement.