Some institutions that add closed captioning to their video media use a third-party closed captioning provider. If this describes your institution, see Configuring Closed Captioning for information on your third party configuration.

Some institutions, however, generate their own closed captioning files and Echo360 allows those institutions to upload those manually generated files to captures. You can also enable automated transcriptioning for all your published captures, then edit those transcriptions for accuracy. The resulting WebVTT file can then be uploaded and used for closed captions.

See also the Echo360 feature to Automatically Apply Transcripts as Closed Captions for Media that meet a certain confidence threshold. 

For tips and instructions on how to generate your own closed caption files, see the following online articles: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebVTT_API or http://www.3playmedia.com/2017/03/08/create-srt-file/

You can manage the closed captioning of your videos, by:

• Sending the video for caption processing/reprocessing - this re-submits the media to the third-party caption provider for captioning or re-captioning of the video. See note below regarding sending for reprocessing.
• Uploading your own caption files - Echo360 supports the use of VTT and SRT caption files.
• Deleting the existing caption file from the video altogether.
  

NOTE: Before sending a capture to have captions added or to be reprocessed for captions, know that:

• Some institutions set the caption turnaround time for several days, in order to lower captioning costs. Be certain you do not inadvertently send any captures for processing before the initial captioning is slated to be completed. This will incur a second captioning cost for these captures.
• All caption reprocessing will likely incur a captioning cost when sent for reprocessing. If you are reprocessing captures for captioning because of errors or problems with the original captions, contact your captioning provider to mitigate this problem.

Instructors can also manually upload captioning files to captures/video media, or delete captions from the video if necessary. Instructors cannot send any video for caption processing/reprocessing.

Adding captions to a capture or video

You can upload a captions file to be applied to a capture or video. This can be done to add captions to the video or to replace the existing captions on the media. If the capture already has a captioning file associated with it, uploading a new file replaces the existing captions with the new file's contents.

Only VTT and SRT file types are accepted as valid caption uploads.

To add closed captioning files to a capture

1. From the Completed captures list on the CAPTURES page, find the capture you want.
2. Click on the capture row to open the media details page, shown below.
   
3. On the right side of the bottom section of the page, below the playback panel, find the Captions entry for the video.
4. Click the menu arrow to the right of either Yes or Add (depending on whether the capture already has captions or not) and select Upload from the drop-down list.
5. In the Filepicker window that appears, navigate to and select the closed captioning file to apply to this capture.
   Only VTT and SRT file types are accepted.

Once the file is uploaded, it is applied to and synced with the capture or video. This processing should take a very brief period of time.

If you are using a closed captioning provider, you can alternately send the video to be re-processed for captions.

NOTE that if a user edits the video, the captioning file may need to be re-done and re-uploaded for application to the edited video.

Deleting captions from a capture or video

You can remove the captions from a video that has them. This may be necessary if there is a problem with the existing closed captioning file and you do not yet have a valid file to apply to the media.

Deleting captions from a video is permanent and cannot be undone.

IMPORTANT: If the Delay video availability option is enabled and applies to the capture/video you are working with (at the institution/organization/department/section level), removing captions from the video will make that media unavailable to students until captions are re-applied. You may want to inform the instructor that their students cannot view this video while there are no captions.

To delete closed captioning files from a capture

1. From the Completed captures list on the CAPTURES page, find the capture you want.
2. Click on the capture row to open the media details page shown above.
3. On the right side of the bottom section of the page, below the playback panel, find the Captions entry for the video.
4. Click the menu arrow to the right of Yes, and select Delete from the drop-down list.
5. Review the information in the warning dialog box. If appropriate to do so, click CONTINUE.

The captions file is removed from the media.