Captions (or intralingual subtitles) are written, on-screen text that represents the speech and important sounds in a video. They usually appear at the bottom (or sometimes at the top) of the screen.

Captions are in the same language as the spoken content.

Captions can also include SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) features, such as speaker identification, sound effects, and music cues—helping viewers follow along more easily and enjoy the full experience.

Benefits of Adding Captions to your Video

  • Accessibility & Inclusion – Ensures your video content is accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences, as well as viewers who prefer reading along.
  • Better Comprehension – Supports understanding in noisy environments, with strong accents, fast dialogue, or complex terminology.
  • Language Support – Helps non-native speakers follow and learn by reinforcing audio with text.
  • Search & SEO – Makes your video text searchable by Google and other search engines, improving discoverability.
  • Higher Engagement – Keeps viewers watching longer and improves content retention.
  • Silent Viewing – Essential for viewers who watch videos with the sound off, especially on mobile and social media platforms.
  • Learning & Retention – Boosts recall for educational videos, online training, and e-learning materials.

Closed Captions (CC) vs. Open Captions (OC)

Closed Captions (CC): On-screen text representing dialogue and sounds, which viewers can turn on or off in the video player.
Open Captions (OC): Text permanently burned into the video, always visible and cannot be turned off.

Amara Captioning Solutions: 

Quality Level Description
Automatic √ AI-generated captions.
√ Do not include SDH tags.
√ Do not follow standard or custom captioning guidelines.
Learn more about AI Captions here.
Basic √ AI-generated captions.
√ Include a professional proofread for text accuracy, punctuation, and grammar.
√ Do not include SDH tags.
√ Do not follow standard or custom captioning guidelines.
Standard √ Professionally created captions.
√ Optional SDH tags.
√ Follow standard or custom captioning guidelines.
Premium √ Professionally created captions.
√ Include a full professional linguistic review and QC step for maximum accuracy.
√ Optional SDH tags.
√ Follow standard or custom captioning guidelines.
  • All our professional services include ongoing Quality Assurance (QA) throughout the workflow.
  • Our Premium service adds an additional Quality Control (QC) review before delivery.

Contact client-services@amara.org to find the right captioning service for your project.

Why Choose Amara.org?

Since 2010, Amara.org has been a proud project of the Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to making audiovisual online content more inclusive and accessible to all. We combine the heart of a nonprofit with the innovation of a tech organization—building tools, services, and communities that break down language and accessibility barriers worldwide.

When you choose Amara Professional Services, you’re not just investing in high-quality captioning and subtitling—you’re supporting our nonprofit mission to break down language, culture, and accessibility barriers across the globe.

To learn more about Captions: