Power Of Captions
Captions began as an accessibility requirement and became a default viewing mode. A large share of every social audience watches with the sound off by choice, which makes the caption track a piece of design rather than a compliance step.
Write them, do not just transcribe them
An automatic transcript is a starting point. Good caption copy breaks on sense rather than on breath, drops filler words that read as noise on screen, and keeps each card short enough to be taken in at a glance.
Timing is the difference
A caption that arrives a beat before the word is spoken spoils the line. One that lingers a beat after it gives the eye time to finish. Half a second in either direction is the difference between comfortable and exhausting.
“Captions are not a transcript. They are the script, rewritten for the eye.”
Style choices that hold up
- High contrast, with a solid backing rather than a shadow
- Two lines maximum, never three
- Consistent position, clear of the platform's own chrome
- One weight and one colour — emphasis by timing, not type
Keep the sidecar file
Burned-in captions cannot be corrected, translated or searched. Ship the SRT alongside every master so the same video can be re-versioned later without going back to the timeline.