Day 16: Add Transcripts to Videos

Create a transcript of a short video, such as your self-description from Day 1. Adding a transcript enables the inclusion of people who are deaf-blind, deaf, hard of hearing, and/or neurodiverse. Additionally, it benefits people who prefer reading text over watching a video or listening to audio. Therefore, transcripts are necessary for podcasts and other audio materials.

Creating a transcript involves manually transcribing in sequence what you see and hear. Pretend you are writing a screen play while you document the dialogue, sounds, and actions within the video!

To create a readable video transcript, you must create a SubRip Subtitle file (SRT) file, which is the common file format for subtitles and captions. This file type originated from the program SubRip which was used to “rip” subtitles and timings from live, reworded, and DVD videos. SRT files are easy to create and share.

For Mac users

1. Open a new file in “TextEdit.”
2. To begin, type the number 1 to indicate the beginning of the first caption sequence.
3. To move on, press “Enter”. 
4. Enter the beginning and ending timecode, using the following format: hours:minutes:seconds,milliseconds -> hours:minutes:seconds,milliseconds.
5. When you are finished, press “Enter.”
6. In the next line, begin typing your captions, ideally limiting them to 32 characters, with 2 lines per caption – this ensures viewers are not forced to read too much too quickly, and that captions do not take up too much space on the screen.
7. After the last line of text in the sequence, press “Enter” twice. Always leave a blank line to indicate a new caption sequence.
8. After the blank line, type the number “2” to indicate the beginning of the second caption sequence and type your captions following SRT format. 
9. Repeat these steps until you have a completed transcript.
10. Save your file as an “.srt” by clicking “Format” or “Make Plain Text.” Note: You can use the keyboard shortcut, “Shift + Command + T.”
11. Then click “File.” 
12. Then select “Save.”
13. Under “Save As,” type the name of your file.
14. Then, change the file extension from “.txt” to “.srt.” 
15. Uncheck “Hide Extension” on the bottom left-hand side of the menu, as well as if no extension is provided, use “.srt”
16. Click “Save.”
17. You are now ready to upload your captions.

For Windows users

1. Open a new file in “Notepad.”
2. To begin, type the number “1” to indicate the beginning of the first caption sequence.
3. To move on, press “Enter.” 
4. Enter the beginning and ending timecode, using the following format: “hours:minutes:seconds,milliseconds -> hours:minutes:seconds,milliseconds.”
5. When you are finished, press “Enter.”
6. In the next line, begin typing your captions, ideally limiting them to 32 characters, with 2 lines per caption. This ensures viewers are not forced to read too much too quickly, and that captions do not take up too much space on the screen. 
7. After the last line of text in the sequence, press “Enter” twice. Always leave a blank line to indicate a new caption sequence.
8. After the blank line, type the number “2” to indicate the beginning of the second caption sequence.
9. Type your captions following SRT format. 
10. Repeat these steps until you have a completed transcript. 
11. Then click “File.” 
12. Then select “Save.”
13. Under “File name,” type the name of your file and include “.srt” at the end.
14. Under “Save as type” select “All files.”
15. Click “Save.”
16. You are now ready to upload your captions.

Credit: 3PlayMedia for the SRT file description and instructions.

If you found today’s challenge useful, let us know by tagging #ABD21DayChallenge and #AccessibleByDesign.