Closed captioning software compared
Six tools a small business can use to make its own captions: two video hosts, two video editors, an open-source caption editor and a meeting platform for live captions. Each one writes an automatic draft; none of those drafts is finished until a person has checked it against the video. Every Yes below was read on the maker's own page. To hand the work to someone else, see captioning services compared.
The verdict by use case
Best if you edit your own videos
You fix the captions by fixing the transcript you already edit, and its SRT or VTT export can carry speaker labels.
Best for exact timing and the caption file itself
An open-source editor with a waveform for timing, SRT and WebVTT among many formats, speech-to-text, and nothing sent off your computer unless you choose an online engine.
Best for live meetings and webinars
Automated live captions for everyday calls, and a caption API token that lets a human captioner type into the meeting when accuracy matters.
Side by side
Scroll sideways to see all vendors.
| Requirement | YouTube Studio | Vimeo | Descript | Kapwing | Subtitle Edit | Zoom |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic captions from speech | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lets you edit the caption text | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not stated |
| Lets you adjust caption timing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not stated |
| Speaker labels | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | Check with the vendor | Yes | Not stated |
| Exports an SRT file | Check with the vendor | Check with the vendor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not stated |
| Exports a WebVTT file | Check with the vendor | Check with the vendor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not stated |
| Takes an existing caption file | Yes | Yes | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | Not stated |
| Burns captions into the video | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not stated |
| Live captions | Yes | Yes | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Yes |
| A human captioner can type live | Check with the vendor | Check with the vendor | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Yes |
| Runs in a web browser | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Not stated |
| Works offline on your computer | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | Not stated |
The vendors
YouTube Studio
- What it is
- YouTube's own caption tools: automatic captions on upload, an editor for text and timing, file upload, and live automatic captions in English only.
- Who it fits
- A business whose videos already live on YouTube and get embedded on its site from there.
- Edit the text and timing of automatic captionsYes
- Upload an SRT or WebVTT fileYes
- Download format named on the help pageCheck with the vendor
- Live automatic captionsYes
- Speaker labelsNot stated
Vimeo
- What it is
- A video host that makes automatic captions on upload and lets you edit the transcript and each timestamp.
- Who it fits
- A business that hosts ad-free video on Vimeo and wants the captions in the same player.
- Edit caption text in the transcript editorYes
- Edit start and end timesYes
- Upload an SRT or WebVTT fileYes
- Live automatic captionsYes
- Speaker labelsNot stated
Descript
- What it is
- A video editor you drive by editing the transcript; captions and subtitle files come from that same script.
- Who it fits
- Someone who edits the company's videos and wants the captions fixed in the same pass.
- Correct the transcript word by wordYes
- Export SRT or WebVTTYes
- Speaker labels in the subtitle fileYes
- Burned-in captions on the videoYes
- Live captionsNot stated
Kapwing
- What it is
- A browser video editor with automatic subtitles, an editable transcript and caption styling.
- Who it fits
- A small team making short social clips that need captions on the video itself.
- Edit the transcript and timingYes
- Export SRT or WebVTTYes
- Burned-in captions on the videoYes
- Speaker labels in the captionsCheck with the vendor
- Upload an existing caption fileNot stated
Subtitle Edit
- What it is
- A free, open-source caption and subtitle editor for Windows, macOS and Linux, with speech-to-text built in.
- Who it fits
- Whoever owns the caption files and wants exact timing, many formats and the work kept on one computer.
- Waveform view for exact timingYes
- Opens and saves SRT and WebVTTYes
- Speaker labels from speech-to-textYes
- Burned-in captions on the videoYes
- Works offlineYes
Zoom
- What it is
- Meetings and webinars with automated live captions, typed captions, and a feed for an outside captioner.
- Who it fits
- A business that runs live meetings, trainings or webinars with customers or the public.
- Automated live captionsYes
- Host or an assigned person types captionsYes
- API token for a third-party captionerYes
- Saves captions after the meetingNo
Check a caption file before you publish
Every tool above can export a caption file. Paste one here to see what still needs a person: timing, speaker names, sound descriptions, line length and reading speed. The sample is a dental practice's booking clip, first as an automatic draft, then after an edit.
Pre-filled with an automatic draft of a 20-second clip. Load the edited version to compare, or paste your own file. Nothing leaves your browser.
What still needs a person
Read as WebVTT: 6 cues. 4 to fix, 2 to check by ear.
Timing in order, no overlaps
Cue 2 overlaps cue 1 at 0:03.0.
Fix
Sentences, capitals and punctuation
6 cues with no capitals or punctuation (cue 1, cue 2, cue 3 and 3 more), the mark of an unedited automatic draft.
Fix
Who is speaking
No speaker names found. Fine for one person on screen; when a voice is off screen or two people talk, name them.
Check by ear
Sounds and music that matter
No sound descriptions found. Play the video: if music, laughter or a sound carries meaning, add it in brackets.
Check by ear
Lines of 42 characters or fewer
6 lines too long: cue 1 (46), cue 2 (88), cue 3 (54) and 3 more.
Fix
Reading speed up to 20 characters a second
Too fast to read: cue 3 (45 per second). Split the cue or give it more time.
Fix
The 42-character line and 20-characters-a-second limits are a common house style, not a WCAG rule. No script can tell whether the words are right, so read the captions while you watch.
What an automatic draft misses
Every tool on this page starts from speech recognition, and none of them calls the result finished. YouTube says its automatic captions "might misrepresent the spoken content due to mispronunciations, accents, dialects, or background noise" and tells creators to review and edit them. Zoom says its automated captions may not be accurate. Some makers advertise an accuracy percentage; it is measured on their test audio, not on your video, so treat it as a sales line and plan the edit anyway.
What WCAG asks
1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded), Level A: captions for all prerecorded audio in synchronized media. WCAG defines what captions are:
Captions are similar to dialogue-only subtitles except captions convey not only the content of spoken dialogue, but also equivalents for non-dialogue audio information needed to understand the program content, including sound effects, music, laughter, speaker identification and location.
An unedited draft is, at best, dialogue-only subtitles. The edit is what turns it into captions.
The edit pass, in order
Names, products and jargon
Speech engines guess at words they have not heard. Your street name, your staff and your product names are where drafts go wrong first.
Who is speaking
WCAG's captions identify who is speaking. Some tools detect speakers; check that the names are there and right, above all for an off-screen voice.
Sounds that carry meaning
Music under a reveal, laughter, a phone ringing. Leaving out important sound effects is a listed WCAG failure (F8).
Sentences and punctuation
Drafts often run words together without capitals or full stops, which makes a fast cue hard to read.
Timing and line breaks
Cues that overlap, flash past or break mid-phrase. Fix these in a timing view, not by retyping.
Two settings cut the work before it starts: Descript's transcription glossary and Vimeo's enhanced speech detection both take a list of names and terms to listen for. The full set of media criteria, including transcripts and audio description, is in video caption requirements for business sites.
Closed captions or burned in
Both kinds can meet 1.2.2: W3C lists closed captions and open captions as sufficient techniques side by side. The difference is practical. Closed captions travel as a separate file, so a viewer can switch them off and you can fix a word without touching the video. Burned-in captions are part of the picture, so they show up everywhere the file goes, but they are pixels: no one can resize them or turn them off.
| Question | Closed captions | Burned-in (open) captions |
|---|---|---|
| WCAG technique | G87 Providing closed captions | G93 Providing open (always visible) captions |
| Viewer can turn them off | Yes, in players that support it | No |
| Where the words live | A separate SRT or WebVTT file the player reads | In the picture itself |
| Fixing a typo after publishing | Edit or replace the file | Export and upload the video again |
| Best place to use them | Your own site, YouTube, Vimeo | Clips posted where you cannot attach a caption file |
For a video on your own site, export WebVTT. The HTML video element reads it through a <track kind="captions"> element (W3C technique H95), and Vimeo recommends WebVTT for uploads too. Keep an SRT copy for tools that only take SRT. If a clip also goes to social media, export it twice: a closed-caption file for your site and a burned-in copy for the feed.
Live captions are a different job
Live video has its own criterion. 1.2.4 Captions (Live) is Level AA and asks for captions for all live audio in synchronized media: a webinar you stream to the public, a live product launch, an online class. The hard part is that nobody can edit an automatic live caption before the audience reads it.
- Zoom generates automated captions in real time and warns in its own help page that they may not be accurate. Since May 2026, captions can no longer be saved after a meeting; a transcript is a separate setting.
- YouTube's live automatic captions are English only, are switched on per stream, and do not stay on the video afterwards: YouTube makes a new automatic track from the recording, which you then edit like any other.
- Vimeo offers live automatic captions on its Advanced, Premium and Enterprise plans, with a yearly allowance of captioned hours, and lets you list up to 50 names and terms it should listen for.
What WCAG asks
Captions are provided for all live audio content in synchronized media.
1.2.4 Captions (Live), Level AA. W3C's own example is an orchestra that has each live web performance captioned through CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation).
When accuracy matters, put a person on the captions. In Zoom you can let the host type, assign an attendee to type, or turn on the caption API token so an outside captioner feeds captions straight into the meeting. Who to hire for that seat is covered in captioning services compared, which judges live and CART options.
Do it yourself or hand it off
Software fits a business that posts a few short videos with clear audio and one or two speakers, and has someone who will sit through each one with the captions on. The editing is the job; the draft is the easy part.
A service fits a backlog of long videos, poor audio, many voices, medical or legal terms, and live events where a mistake is public. Services are judged on human review, formats and live options in captioning services compared.
Captions are one of several media criteria
At Level AA, prerecorded video also needs audio description (1.2.5) when something important is only shown, never said. Caption software does not do that part. See what audio description is and audio description services compared, and run the whole page through the WCAG 2.2 AA checklist.
How we compared
Vendor pages read on
Listed: software a small business runs itself to make, correct and export captions, plus the caption tools built into two video hosts and one meeting platform. Human captioning services are left out; they have their own comparison.
A Yes means the maker's own help or product page said so when we read it. Not stated means the page is silent. Check with the vendor means the page hints at it without saying it plainly. Accuracy percentages that makers print are their own measures and are not repeated here. Adobe's Premiere Pro help pages refused our requests, so Premiere is not listed rather than listed half-read.
Verdicts are editorial: no vendor can buy a verdict position or displace another vendor.
No overlay widget is listed. By an overlay we mean a third-party widget or toolbar script sold as making a site conform without changing its source. In April 2025 the FTC approved a final order that bars one overlay vendor from claiming, without evidence to support it, that its automated products can make any website WCAG-compliant. Read the FTC's announcement of the order.
Nothing here is legal advice. For a specific case, ask a lawyer.
Questions
Are YouTube's automatic captions good enough?
Not as they come. YouTube itself says the quality may vary, encourages creators to add professional captions first, and says to review automatic captions and edit what was not transcribed properly. Edit them in YouTube Studio, then run the file through the check on this page.
Do automatic captions meet the ADA?
The Department of Justice has no regulation setting detailed web standards for businesses, and points to WCAG as helpful guidance. WCAG's captions include speaker names and meaningful sounds, which a raw draft often lacks, so plan on editing. This is general information, not legal advice. For your own situation, ask a lawyer.
SRT or WebVTT: which file should I export?
WebVTT for your own site and for Vimeo, which recommends it; the HTML video element reads it directly. SRT is the most widely accepted elsewhere, and YouTube takes both. Most editors here export either, so keep one of each.
Is there free captioning software?
Subtitle Edit is free and open source. YouTube makes automatic captions on upload, and Vimeo includes them on its Free plan too. The free part is the draft; the edit still takes a person's time.
Do captions also cover audio description?
No. Captions carry what is heard; audio description carries what is only seen, and WCAG asks for it at Level AA. Read what audio description is.
Related
- Captioning services comparedHuman and human-checked captioning for recorded and live video, judged on review and formats.
- Video caption requirements for business sites11 min read
- Audio description services comparedWho writes and voices audio description for marketing and training video.
- What is audio description9 min read
- WCAG 2.2 AA checklistEvery Level A and AA success criterion as a plain test you can run, with a printable record.