What Are Open Captions?

Direct definition

Open captions are timed text burned into the video frames. Viewers cannot turn them off. They are also called hardcoded or burned-in captions.

The sections below explain how open captions is used in transcription and subtitle work, what people often mix up, and which VideoText workflow applies when the next step is a file or review pass.

Key takeaways

• Open captions always display; closed captions are optional tracks.
• Burning in is a separate VideoText workflow from generating an SRT.
• Social platforms sometimes prefer open captions because auto-play is muted.

When open captions are used

Silent autoplay, venues without caption decoders, or a requirement that every viewer see the same words. The tradeoff is that you cannot restyle or translate the track without re-exporting the video.

Related terms

• closed captions
• subtitles
• caption file
• All glossary terms

Sources

1. W3C WAI: Captions/Subtitles