The easy way to think about is that captions are for the deaf and hard of hearing and subtitles are for the foreign language viewer.

You may also see “SDH” subtitles, which stands for “Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.” These serve the same purpose as captions, but are aesthetically similar to subtitles and are accessed in the same way.

Different types of projects require different amounts of time.

Closed Captioning: one to four days, depending on the length of the project

Subtitling: three days to two weeks, depending on the length of the project and if there is translation involved

Transcription: one to three days, depending on the length of the project

Specialized Transcripts: three days to two weeks, depending on the length of the project and the type of script needed

For the purpose of creating the caption or subtitle file, or for transcription, we’ll accept any type of video file. If you send us a file that’s not immediately compatible with our system, we can easily transcode it to something that will.

For expediency, we prefer an MP4 or MOV file at a bite rate under 2Mbps.

For the vast majority of projects, you’ll need pop-on captions. This is the standard form for all pre-recorded productions.

The only time you’ll need roll-up captions is for live captioning events. Almost all broadcasters, including VOD broadcasters, no longer accept roll-up captioning for pre-recorded content.