Glossary → Captions & subtitles
Captions & subtitles
Closed captions
Closed captions are timed text that can be turned on or off by the viewer, written for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences — they include speaker identification and non-speech sounds like [door slams] or [tense music].
'Closed' means toggleable (the data travels separately from the picture); open captions are burned in and always visible. Broadcast captioning follows technical standards like CEA-608/708 in North America.
Legal accessibility requirements — the ADA in the US, similar rules elsewhere — are a major reason captioning exists at professional quality levels.
Related terms
SubtitlesSubtitles are timed text displayed over video showing what is being said, primarily for viewers who can hear t…
Open captionsOpen captions are permanently burned into the video image — every viewer sees them, no player support is neede…
CEA-608 captionsCEA-608 is the legacy North American broadcast standard for closed captions — the 'line 21' captions of analog…
SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing)SDH subtitles combine the translation role of subtitles with the accessibility content of captions — speaker l…
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