Are you thinking of adding closed captioning to your marketing assets or subtitles to your YouTube video content? At first glance, these two things seem pretty interchangeable. However, delve a little deeper and you’ll start to appreciate how different they really are. While closed captions and subtitles are visually similar, they each have a distinct purpose. Closed captions can enhance your content and its SEO value while making it more accessible to audiences. Meanwhile, subtitles are a must if you want to reach wider markets and ensure everyone’s getting the most out of your video content. 

Closed Captions Vs Subtitles

While there’s admittedly a lot of crossover between subtitles and closed captions, they are two distinct things. The key difference between them is their ultimate purpose. Subtitles are generally used to make the same content as valuable as possible to a wider audience. Meanwhile, closed captions can be used to enrich the user experience of those who might be hearing impaired or suffer other accessibility issues. The powerful subtitling services in Gurgaon make sure that the right type is used in video content. Let us take a closer look at how these two types of transcription stack up against each other. 

1. Accuracy: Generally speaking, subtitles tend to be less accurate than closed captions. With subtitles, only words spoken are subtitled. With closed captions, all relevant sounds are mentioned, helping build a much more accurate picture.

2. Detail: Once again, subtitles fall short of closed captions. Closed captioning covers every aspect of sound, mentioning things like background audio, as well as when there’s a change to who’s speaking. Meanwhile, subtitles only deliver a barebones transcript of what’s in the audio.

3. Language Availability: Subtitles do have a slight edge over closed captions. Subtitles can be produced in many different languages, giving a piece of content global reach. However, closed captions are always produced in the same language used in the original video.

4. Accessibility: To understand tips to deliver Voice Over like a pro, you should know that accessibility is very important. Currently, subtitles simply can’t deliver the same extent of accessibility as closed captions, chiefly because they aren’t compatible with software solutions like screen readers. Closed captions, however, do. This increased accessibility makes them the first port of call for many users with hearing impairment.

Read More- Evaluate the Importance of Subtitling