𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘹 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦: 2 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘴🕒
Getting these types of captions mixed up is an easy mistake to make as they are often used for movies, TV shows and more, but they serve different purposes.
That’s because they are different types of captions. Open captions are permanently visible to the viewer because they are ‘burnt into’ the video file. Closed captions (CC) are an overlay that can be turned on or off.
We’ve worked on hundreds of subtitling projects and thousands of live captions projects. Both jobs require a choice in which type of captions to choose, so we are well-placed to guide readers through the differences.
In this blog, we will explore the key differences in more detail, such as:
- Positioning
- Further customisation
- Why they are used
Key differences between open captions and closed captions
Positioning
Open captions are typically displayed at the bottom of the screen in the middle. They can be placed the captions anywhere, but it’s
standard that they are at the bottom.
With closed captions, flexibility in terms of position, font, text size etc., is subject to the destination video player (e.g. YouTube) and the settings of
the platform.
Further customisation
For open captions, there is more flexibility. Font style, font size, text colour, background colour and the number of lines of text can be chosen too.
As for closed captions, you are working with the player/destination. Two or three lines of text is the maximum allowed. On the audiences end, if there are translated subtitles, they can choose what language they want to customise the experience.
Why they are used
Open captions are popular for when clients want to enforce subtitles as they can’t be turned off and will be on the screen permanently. These captions are permanently kept on the video, therefore, can never be changed once added. Bear in mind, this can affect the end-user experience as the font size may have readability issues for people who have partial sight loss.
Our Senior Project Manager, Mohanned Khallof, noted that sometimes we find that some audiences are not aware of the CC button and they may not click it and miss the captions, so open captions can ensure the audience sees the captions.
Closed captions are useful when clients think some will use captions and some won’t, so they give them the choice.
Conclusion
Hopefully you now better understand the difference between open and closed captions. Easily confused, but they do serve different purposes.