3 Tips for Better Text-Based Online Captions & Subtitles

Text-based files are now the most common deliverable for captioning and subtitling video translation. There’s one simple reason for this: online video streaming platforms. As more content has moved online – including TV shows, movies, marketing spots, and e-Learning and instructional videos – the subtitle deliverables have followed suit. Today, a working knowledge of text-based subtitling formats is a must for multimedia localization professionals.

This post will list 3 tips that will make your text-based subtitles more functional and more legible.

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The standard for streaming video

Text-based captions and subs are supported by most online video hosting sites, including YouTube, Vimeo and Wistia. They’re also supported by major online content distribution sites like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, as well as apps linked to channels, like HBO NOW and Showtime Now. E-Learning and corporate developers are using them now as well, as more of this content migrates to the internet. Why are text-based formats the standard for online streaming video? Because they’re more portable, require less bandwidth to implement, and they’re easier to edit, even once they’ve been published. Moreover, they allow audiences to do things like adjust their text size, color, and font.

If you’re new to subs, or aren’t sure what text-based caption & subtitle formats are, check out our previous post, Video Translation 101: Burned-in vs. Text for Subtitles Delivery. It looks at text-based subs deliverables in depth, and lists their advantages over burned-in subs.

With that introduction out of the way, following are the three tips to enhance your text-based captions and subs.

1. Avoid line breaks.

Adding line breaks to subs that flow into two lines allows developers to control the look of each title. For languages like Japanese, adding line breaks manually can ensure that they fall at the right places, so that now katakana are split up. It also can make sure that lines are split evenly, which makes Chinese subtitling more readable. And in some cases, line breaks have to be added – for example, when you have more than one speaker in a subtitle, or when captioning song lyrics.

However, in all other cases, avoiding line breaks can make your content more usable. Why? Because on platforms that allow users to set their text size, allowing the text to reflow naturally across two lines can avoid awkward-looking titles. In the following screen shot, note that the text size has increased enough so that the line break adds an extraneous line:

The red line denotes where the original line break is in the text – if it weren’t there, this subtitle would fit comfortably on three lines, even at this larger text size.

2. Make sure your text file is Unicode.

Text-files developed on English-language PCs are almost always ANSI-encoded. And for English-language captions, this is usually not an issue. However, there are two big reasons for making sure that your file is saved in Unicode. First, it ensures that there are no issues for viewers who are on systems set to a language other than English, or on a different platform, especially with the characters used by audibles like music and sound effects. Second, it means that your file can be used as the basis for video translation without any issues.

Moreover, making sure that a file is Unicode-encoded doesn’t require a full-service post-production studio – just select “Save as” in your text editing software and make sure to pick “Unicode” as the file encoding. This works on both the Mac and PC.

3. Pick one of the simpler text formats.

There are several formats that will be accepted by most online streaming sites. Some of them, like TTML, DFPX and SAMI will even allow you to control the formatting of your subtitle text. However, some of them, like SRT and tab-delimited text, are much simpler in terms of file syntax. Look at the following comparison of the same text in SRT and TTML/DFXP:

Yes, the TTML/DFPX allows developers to specify text size, position, color, and various other attributes – but remember that most systems allow users to adjust these settings. Moreover, the SRT file is much easier to follow visually, since it contains distinct blocks for each subtitle, as well as subtitle numbers for reference. SRT is easier to translate as well. Unless you need the features of the more complex formats, stick to the simpler ones.

Bonus tip: Watch the online video on your computer.

Integrating the text-based subs to the video – usually by uploading the file through an online user interface – is not an error-free process. Sometimes characters get garbled (especially since some players may not support them), and small errors get introduced into the time-codes that cause serious upload errors. Worse yet, many platforms don’t have diagnostics in place that can warn users that an upload error has occurred. Therefore, make sure that you watch the video with the subs implemented all the way through. As in all multimedia localization, no matter how good your planning and how thorough your workflows may be, a full quality-assurance step is still crucial to delivering flawless products.