Working with Video : Youtube

All video (including Youtube) must be transcribed and/or captioned to meet ADA standards. Youtube has captioning available, but you will likely need to review it and clean it up, especially for acronyms, poor sounds quality, or speakers with accents.

Enclosed below are best practices guidelines for video production.

Content Creators' Club Related Resources

• Better Filmmaking
• Captioning Best Practices
• Sound & Audio

Captions Best Practices

• Remember to follow the Captioning Best Practices and Better Filmmaking Tips.
• In Youtube you can
  • Add your own translations
  • Allow Youtube to automatically translate
  • Or allow community members to contribute.

Creating Transcripts for Youtube

Format your Transcript file

Type the text of what was said in your video and save it as a plain text file (.txt). You can convert other formats (like Microsoft Word, HTML, PDF) into a plain text file or you can use native programs on your computer like TextEdit or Notepad.

In order to get the best results, use these formatting tips:

• Use a blank line to force the start of a new caption.
• Use square brackets to designate background sounds. For example, [music] or [laughter].
• Add >> to identify speakers or change of speaker.
• Here's an example of what your transcript file might look like:

>> ALICE: Hi, my name is Alice Miller and this is John Brown

>> JOHN: and we're the owners of Miller Bakery.

>> ALICE: Today we'll be teaching you how to make

our famous chocolate chip cookies!

[intro music]

Okay, so we have all the ingredients laid out he

Upload Your Transcript to Youtube

Creating Captions in Youtube

Subtitles and closed captions open up your content to a larger audience (nonEnglish speakers, those on who do not wish to use sound, as well as viewers who have hearing issues. Captions and/or transcripts are REQUIRED under ADA.

In the YouTube Studio when you upload your video make sure to choose caption options and language. Youtube will attempt to caption where possible (slang, acronyms, names, as well as speakers with accents may all be un-captionable via the automated process.

Automatic Captioning in Youtube

Edit or Remove Captions in Youtube

Adding Translations to a Youtube Video

In Youtube you can

• Add your own translations
• Allow Youtube to automatically translate
• or allow community members to contribute.
• See, Translations in Youtube

Transcription & Translation Glossary