Featured image: Zoomed in on a bright blue laptops white keyboard.
Hello there! I started this off as a response to friends asking me about how to get started captioning/transcribing, which always features an ask about best programs to use. Hoping that having this will help my response time to be more swift.
I am by far not the ultimate captionist/transcriptionist, but I do love the art of taking in information & being a part of the story telling process. If you’re hearing, regardless of any audio processing related disabilities, it’s important that we remember to caption with Deaf folk in mind. That includes readability, timing, and including as much as you can that helps to narrates what can be heard (exceptions involve anything that may obstruct readability, check out the links at the end!). If you are captioning, it is also good to have a transcript version available if possible, and better yet if it can be a visually descriptive transcript. Transcripts are great for skimming through (not everyone wants to watch through captions), but most importantly it keeps in mind our DeafBlind community members!
I know a lot of us are also disabled in one way or another, and honestly I have found it really great to ask for help when I get stumped in pace due to fatigue. Happy to see you on your journey. Accessibility is a collective effort!
Following you’ll find a layout of annual/monthly pricing plans, alongside examples of what the workspace appears as, for programs that can be used to caption/transcribe for through editing auto-captions/transcription. And some options even beyond that, as well as some websites to help get you started on Deaf-centric captioning. Check back for updates!
Kapwing – Kapwing.com
Free: $0 per month.
Pro: $17 per month annually.
For Teams: $17 per month per user annually.
Free: $0 per month.
Pro: $20 per month.
For Teams: $20 per month per user.
To the upper left there is a video display. Below has Text options (font size, colour, alignment), Text position, Background, then options to Translate subtitles or Download srt. To the right is a wide space with the options to play the video, Add subtitle, Auto-generate, or Upload srt.
A pop-up for auto-generate subtitle, with the note “Using this tool, you can add subtitles automatically, powered by artificial intelligence. Note that this feature is still in BETA and the process is not 100% accurate. After adding the subs, you can then edit the text in the editor. This could take several minutes.” You are then prompted to Select video language, with the option to additionally select to Translate transcript into another language.
The captions are line by line, with their correlated start and end times which can be edited via the numbers or the duration bar under each line. There are also the options to Duplicate or Remove a line.
Descript – Descript.com
Free: $0 per month.
For screen recording and limited editing.
Creator: $12 per month annually.
Record and edit anything.
Pro: $24 per month annually.
More power and time savings.
Enterprise: Custom needs.
Free: $0 per month.
For screen recording and limited editing.
Creator: $15 per month.
Record and edit anything.
Pro: $30 per month.
More power and time savings.
Enterprise: Custom needs.
The top center has a play bar that also features the options to speed audio up as well as record. To the left is a vertical bar where you can sort through various layers and scenes. Center has the option to “Drag and drop audio or video to transcribe” or Choose file. At the bottom is a horizontal bar where the audio and text will be lined up in association to timing.
The left vertical bar shows the file in the Media Library. Below that is the option to transcribe that 1 file, via Automatic, White Glove (payed service), or by Importing Transcript. To the right, in the center area shows the file name and time; further right has the video display. At the bottom horizontal bar has a thumbnail image of the video and the audio shown in wave form.
At the bottom horizontal bar, it now shows the text above the correlated areas of the audio shown in wave form.
TypeStudio – TypeStudio.co
Free: $0 per month.
10min video upload per month.
Basic: $12 per month.
5hr video upload per month.
Pro: $28 per month.
20hr video upload per month.
Enterprise: Custom.
Have custom requirements?
Free: $0 per month.
10min video upload per month.
Basic: $18 per month.
5hr video upload per month.
Pro: $28 per month.
20hr video upload per month.
Enterprise: Custom.
Have custom requirements?
Options to begin include selecting spoken language, and to “Drag & drop your file or click to browse”, or “Insert Youtube, Google Drive, or DropBox link”.
At the top there is the title, Undo, Subtitles, and Translation options, Export and Share. Below, the transcript is to the left and the video display is to the right. Above the transcript are the options to edit the video (from the text) or just the text, and to Cut. Below the video is the play button.
Up near the top right, the Export option has been pressed to reveal a list of options: Export video, Export audio, Copy to clipboard. Below, in that list, are Premium Features: Download srt, Download vtt, Download txt.
All Apps – U.S. $53.99 per month.
Get all 20+ creative desktop and mobile apps including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premier Pro, and Acrobat.
Premier Pro – U.S. $20.99 per month.
Professional video and film editing.
Different pricing for Individuals, Business, Students & Teachers, and Schools & Universities available.
Annual plan, paid monthly – U.S. $20.99 per month.
Annual plan, prepaid – U.S. $239.88 per year.
Monthly plan – U.S. $31.49 per month.
There are multiple boxed panels. Near the upper left there are the options to “Transcribe sequence”, “Create new caption track”, or “Import captions from file”. To the right is where the video display & controls would be. At the panel to the bottom left, there is “Import media to start”. To the right of that is where the Timeline would be, that also notes “Drop media here to create sequence”. A vertical panel to the far right has the options to Browse and Edit “Essential Graphics”.
Under the Transcript tab, you can see lines or blocks of text under it’s corresponding time stamp. To the left of each, you can add the speakers name. Above is also a bar that allows you to search, merge, split, create captions, ect. There are thumbnails of the video in the bottom left media library. To the right of that, the Timeline, there are separate bars that represent the video file and the audio from that video.
Under the Captions tab, each line is numbered, shows it’s time stamp, as well as the editable text. You can also search, add, merge, split, ect. In that same bar, a button with 3 dots has been pressed to reveal the options: Add to new caption track, Export to srt file, Export to text file. At the Timeline, there are now yellow slots that represent each caption line. When zoomed in, you can edit the caption timeline from there.
Otter.ai – Otter.ai
Basic: $0 per month.
For individuals just getting started.
Pro: $8.33 per month
For individuals who need more minutes and features.
Business: $20 per month per user.
For small teams and organizations that need to share & collaborate.
Enterprise: Contact.
For large organizations that need additional security, control, and support.
Basic: $0 per month.
For individuals just getting started.
Pro: $12.99 per month.
For individuals who need more minutes and features.
Business: $30 per month per user.
For small teams and organizations that need to share & collaborate.
Enterprise: Contact.
For large organizations that need additional security, control, and support.
To begin there is the option to “Import audio/video” by drag & drop or Browse files.
The layout has the title, date/time info, Summary keywords, and a block of auto-transcribed text that has the option of adding the speakers name.
Up near the top right, the Edit button has been pressed to reveal a list of options: Move, Export text, Export audio, Rematch speakers, Change start time, Reset start time, Show relative time, Delete.
Free
Aegisub – aegisub.en.uptodown.com
Subtitle Horse – subtitle-horse.com
Amara – amara.org
Mobile Apps
iOS: MixCaptions – mixcord.co/pages/mixcaptions
Choose a pre-recorded video and transcribe up to 10 minutes
Edit subtitles for accuracy
Customize placement, font, color and caption background
iOS: Captions
Forget typing in captions for your videos by hand every time you’re ready to post. “Captions” will automatically create captions for your videos and give you editing power to adjust content before you’re done. Simply export your finished captioned video and share it wherever you want.
Android: AutoCap
App transcribes up to 5 minutes length (10 minutes to subscribers) of videos audio the rest can be added manually
Android: Voicella
Voicella is a video editor that also has an AI-powered automatic speech recognition, translation and subtitles creation. It uses speech-to-text and voice-to-text algorithms which work almost without errors. Create subtitles automatically from video with any language, then edit the auto-generated subtitles so that they perfectly match the audio in your video. The machine powered language translation and transcription is a great way to start translating and subtitling a video while saving your time and effort.
Podcasts
Headliner – headliner.app
Wavve – wavve.co
How to Caption & Guidelines
A Deafies Guide To Accessing Captions Anywhere – HearingLikeMe
Teletext_for_the_Deaf – Academia
Transcription Guidelines for Captioning – Aberdeen
Captioning Key – Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP)
How NOT To Closed Caption Your YouTube Videos – Rikki Poynter
How To Closed Caption Your Videos | Rikki Poynter
How To Caption Your Social Media Videos | #CCMeIn | Liam O’Dell
Would love to see any questions in the comments, if you have any!