Help! My file won't open. How do I use this?
Don't panic. This is totally normal. The end product for captions is what is known as a sidecar file. It's a versatile, text-based file that you then add to your video by uploading the caption file to the online platform where your video is hosted. Viewers can toggle these captions on or off.
For social media, you can think of this as a two-step process. First, you upload your video to a site such as Facebook or YouTube, then you upload your Rev caption file.
Below you'll find step-by-step instructions for adding caption files to videos on major social media platforms. Click any name to jump to that section. Each one includes a realtime walkthrough video so you can see the caption-adding process in action.
Keep in mind that viewers can toggle closed captions on or off, which is considered best practice in the media industry. That's why you can turn captions on or off on your TV while watching Big Bang Theory re-runs. We're partial to the "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis" episode ourselves. 🎁🖖
NEW! We now offer burned-in captions (open captions) for an additional $0.30 per minute. Learn more here.
Now, on to the good stuff.
Adding Captions to Facebook
First and foremost, be sure you've downloaded the correct caption file format since Facebook requires that all caption files follow specific naming conventions. When you download the Facebook ready SubRip (.srt), we automatically format the file to meet these requirements. 🙌
If you accidentally ordered another format, no worries. We never charge you to download your file in an alternate format. You can grab the Facebook-ready .srt right from our Captions Editor.
Here's how you add the caption file to your Facebook video:
- Upload your video to your Facebook page as you normally would, without captions. When the video is done uploading, click Subtitles & Captions(CC) in the column on the right and select the video language (English).
- Choose the option to upload a SubRip (.srt) file. You will be prompted to upload the caption file you received from Rev.
- Choose the default language for your caption file (English).
- Once the file is uploaded, click Publish.
If you've already uploaded the video to your page and are trying to add the captions after the fact, find the post on your page's timeline, then click Edit Post and follow the steps above.
Watch the video below for a realtime walkthrough.
Adding Captions to YouTube
The easiest way to get your captions added to a YouTube video is through our seamless YouTube integration. 🔄 You can link to your channel at the time of order placement, select the video(s) you want to have captioned, and check the box to auto-upload the completed captions back to your video once they're ready. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Note: These instructions are for the latest version of YouTube Studio. If you are using YouTube's Creator Studio Classic, please see these instructions.
- Download your caption file from the Rev Captions Editor. The most common format used with YouTube is .srt.
- In your YouTube account, click on Your videos and then click on the video you wish to add captions to.
- Click the blue EDIT VIDEO button underneath the video.
- Click the Subtitles link in the left menu and then select your language (English) from the dropdown box if it appears (if you've already set your default language to English, you may not see this).
- Click the blue Add link to open the subtitle creator.
- Choose Upload a file and then select Subtitles file from the pop-up that appears. Choose your file and then click the blue Upload button.
- Your captions will appear in the left pane next to the video. You can make adjustments there if you wish, and then click the blue Save changes button in the upper right.
That's it! Your captions will now appear on your video. Be sure to click the CC button if you don't see them while watching your video.
Adding Captions to Vimeo
Just as we do with YouTube, we offer a Vimeo integration that makes adding captions as smooth as butter. 🔄 You can link to your channel at the time of order placement, select the video(s) you want to have captioned, and check the box to auto-upload the completed captions back to your video once they're ready.
- Download your caption file from the Rev Captions Editor. The most common format used with Vimeo is .vtt.
- In the Vimeo Video Manager, click on the video that you are adding captions to.
- In the right menu, click the Captions and audio tab, then click Closed Captions.
- Click on Settings, then click the “+” button, specify the Language (English), and the Type (Captions), then click Choose File and upload the caption file you downloaded from Rev.
- Once the file is uploaded, you’ll need to toggle it on to activate it.
- When you preview your video, you may need to click the CC button in the lower video pane menu and turn the captions on before they will appear.
Watch the video below for a realtime walkthrough.
Adding Captions to Wistia
Here's how to add captions to a video on Wistia:
- Navigate to the media page for the video you’d like captions for (the page where you can play the video in your Wistia account).
- Select Customize.
- From the Customize panel, scroll down until you see the Captions option and toggle it on.
- Once you toggle captions on, you will see the option to Upload a caption file.
- Select the caption file you downloaded from Rev and upload it.
- NOTE: you may need to scroll up to see this, as shown in the video below.
- You will be able to choose between having captions ON or OFF by default.
- Scroll back down, click Save, and you're all set! Your captions are now on your video.
Watch the video below for a realtime walkthrough.
Adding Captions to LinkedIn
LinkedIn just might win the award for Easiest Caption Upload Process Ever. 🏆 Here's how you do it.
- Create a new post and click the video icon to add a video to it.
- Select the video file you're adding to the post.
- After the video loads, click Edit in the upper right corner and then select the captions file you downloaded from Rev. LinkedIn can only accept .srt files.
Watch the video below for a realtime walkthrough.
Adding Captions to Instagram
Unlike other social media platforms, Instagram does not support sidecar caption files. 😒 We know -- it bums us out, too! The good news is that you can still use your Rev caption file and burn the captions into the video before uploading it to Instagram. Alternatively, you can add burned-in captions to your order for an additional $0.30.
The process is a bit on the technical side, but this video from tutvid will walk you through it using Adobe Premiere Pro*. It's important that the captions are set to "forced open" so they'll be burned into the video itself. HandBrake* is another third party platform that some use to burn captions into a video.
Important Note: The video included here is for Windows users. If you're using Handbrake on a Mac, please see this post for screenshots and instructions.
Watch the video below for a realtime walkthrough of burning in captions using HandBrake.
*For any help using third party software, please contact their respective support teams. We would love to troubleshoot, but they're in a much better position to do so.
Adding Captions to TikTok
Like Instagram, TikTok doesn't allow you to upload a caption file to your videos. You can, however, record your video natively on your phone (vs using the TikTok app to record), then burn captions in following the same instructions as Instagram above. Alternatively, you can add burned-in captions to your order for an additional $0.30.
You can also check out our blog post on adding captions to TikTok videos.
Adding Captions to Twitter
Select users can add captions to a video inside Twitter's Media Studio library.
Important note: Currently, access to Media Studio is given on an invite-only basis. If you have been invited, go to studio.twitter.com and log in using your Twitter username. If you are logging in for the first time, you will see a welcome message explaining how to use the tool.
- Upload your video directly to Media Studio on a mobile device
- After the upload is complete, tap Media Detail to view the expanded menu for the video
- Tap the Subtitles tab
- From the list of Media Studio-supported languages, select the language of the SRT file
- Tap Upload.
- Select the SRT file from your device