Glossary
Open captions
Open captions are text drawn onto the frames of a video, so every viewer sees them and nobody can switch them off. They are also called burned-in captions or hardcoded subtitles.
Updated October 17, 20261 cited fact, each traced to its source
Also called burned-in captions, hardcoded subtitles.
Open captions are text added to the picture itself. Because the words are part of the video frames, every viewer sees them, and no one can turn them off. People also call them burned-in captions or hardcoded subtitles.
Open captions are drawn onto the video frames
Making open captions is a processing step, not a setting. FFmpeg's subtitles filter draws subtitles onto the frames of a video 1. The output is a new video file in which the words are pixels. The text is no longer a separate track that a player can read, so changing a typo means producing the video again.
How open captions differ from closed captions
Closed captions are stored as a separate text track, such as a WebVTT or SRT file, that the player can show or hide. Open captions have no such track. The viewer cannot change their size, colour or language, and the player cannot hide them. The table below sets out the practical differences.
| Feature | Closed captions | Open captions |
|---|---|---|
| Stored as | A separate text track | Part of the video frames |
| Viewer can turn them off | Yes | No |
| Fixing a typo | Edit the track and reload | Re-render the whole video |
Example: a clip for social feeds
A creator posts a short interview to a feed that does not show a separate caption track. Burning the captions into the video makes the text visible on every app and device. The trade-off is that a second language needs a second video, and a late correction means exporting the clip again.
Why it matters for transcription
For burned-in captions, the transcript and the timing have to be finished before the video is rendered. A common workflow is to produce a caption file first, check its timing against the audio, and burn it in as the last step. The timing rules are the same as for closed captions, so the same checks apply. Our guide to captions and subtitles explains the formats, and the guide to video to text covers getting a transcript from a video.
Related terms
- Closed captions: captions the viewer can switch on or off.
- SDH subtitles: subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing viewers, which are often also burned in.
- SubRip subtitle file (SRT): a text caption file you can burn in.
Evidence
Every number on this page, with where it comes from. Open a fact to see the exact words in its source.
- 1.
Related terms
- Transcription: How to Turn Audio and Video Into TextThe topic this term belongs to
- Clean verbatimClean verbatim is a transcript that removes filler words, stutters, repetitions and false starts while keeping the speaker's wording and meaning. It is the usual choice for reading, captions and coding, where hesitations add noise rather than information.
- Closed captions (CC)Closed captions (CC) are a text version of a program's dialogue and relevant sounds that the viewer can turn on or off. The word closed means the viewer chooses whether to see them, which separates them from open captions.
- Forced alignmentForced alignment is the process of matching a known transcript to its audio so that each word or phone gets a start and end time. Unlike open speech recognition, it does not decide what was said; it only finds when each word was said.
- SubRip subtitle file (SRT)A SubRip subtitle file, or SRT, is a plain-text file of numbered caption blocks. Each block has a start and end time in hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds, followed by the caption text. It is one of the most common caption formats on the internet.
- Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH)SDH stands for subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. They show the dialogue plus the sound effects, music and speaker identification that a hearing viewer would get from the soundtrack.
- Timestamp (transcription)A timestamp in a transcript is a time marker, such as 00:12:15, that shows when the nearby text was spoken in the recording. Timestamps let readers jump to a passage, and they can be attached to whole segments or to single words, with different accuracy.
- Transcription foot pedalA transcription foot pedal is a switch that controls audio playback with the foot, so a transcriber can start, pause and rewind a recording while typing. It is also called a foot control or foot pedal.
- TranscriptionistA transcriptionist is a person who listens to recorded speech and types it as text, such as a clinician's dictated report. Speech recognition now writes first drafts, so much of the work has shifted to checking and correcting machine text.
- Turnaround time (TAT)Turnaround time (TAT) is how long a transcriber or service takes to deliver a finished transcript after an order is received. Court schedules define it in calendar days or hours, counted from the order.
- Verbatim transcriptionVerbatim transcription writes down exactly what is said, including filler words, false starts, repetitions and non-speech sounds, with no tidying. Researchers and legal teams use it when the way someone speaks is part of the record.
- WebVTT (VTT)WebVTT (Web Video Text Tracks, usually shortened to VTT) is a plain-text file format for timed captions and subtitles on the web. A .vtt file is a list of cues, and each cue gives a start time, an end time and the text to show.