Burned-in captions or a separate caption file?

Choose burned-in captions when you cannot control the player, such as a venue screen, a messaging app or a social feed that autoplays without sound. Choose a separate caption file when viewers should be able to switch captions on or off, or when you need more than one language. If the video goes to several places, ask for both.

What is the difference?

Both come from the same text. What changes is how the viewer receives it. W3C guidance on captions also says automatic text needs accuracy checks, so decide who checks the words whichever route you pick (see checking automatically generated captions).

Which suits where the video will play?

Match the choice to the place.

• Venue screens, LED walls or a hall TV: burned-in. You often cannot control the player, and a caption file may not show. It also helps in a noisy room.
• Social media clips: usually burned-in, because many people watch with the sound off and autoplay. Check each platform’s own options too. See our short social clips service for how clips are made.
• Company intranet, YouTube or a webinar platform: a caption file is often better, because viewers can switch it on, pick a language and use it with a screen reader or search. Confirm that the platform accepts your file format.
• Private family sharing: burned-in is the safest for mixed devices, with a file version kept as backup. See accessible playback for private family sharing.
• Archive or future reuse: keep a clean version without text, plus the caption file, so you can edit or translate later.

For example, a company anniversary dinner might need a burned-in highlight for the screen in the ballroom, a caption-file version for the staff intranet, and a clean master for the archive. This is an illustration, not a package.

Design points to settle with burned-in text

Once the text is part of the picture, the editor must choose where it sits, how large it is and how long it stays. Poor choices make it hard to read.

• Safe placement: away from edges, and not covering faces, name titles or logos. Our guide on readable names, titles and on-screen graphics covers this.
• Different shapes: a wide video, a square clip and a vertical clip each need their own caption position. The aspect ratio planner helps you list the shapes you need.
• Speed: captions that flash by too quickly are hard to follow, especially for older viewers.

What we confirm for your event

• Which versions you receive: burned-in, caption files, or both.
• Which file formats we provide, and whether they work on your platform.
• Both the burned-in and the file version use the same checked text.
• A clean version without text for the archive.
• How a mistake found after delivery is corrected in each version.

List these on your deliverables sheet so the quote matches what you need. The wider choice between captions, subtitles and transcripts is covered in the guide to the three outputs, and our captioning and subtitles service page explains how we scope the work.