Adding subtitles and captions to your videos makes your content more accessible to a wider audience. Our system automatically generates captions for newly uploaded videos, and you can also manually add subtitles in multiple languages.
What's the Difference?
Subtitles translate dialogue for viewers who can hear but may not understand the language.
Captions provide a full textual representation of all audio, including dialogue, sound effects, and speaker identification, for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing.
✨ Automatic Caption Generation
Uscreen automatically generates captions for your videos if your storefront uses one of the following languages:
English
Spanish
Italian
Portuguese
German
French
How Auto-Captions Work
When you upload a new video, you'll notice a Processing Auto-Caption status in the Subtitles and Captions block.
Once the video is transcoded and the audio is processed, the auto-generated caption track will appear.
📝 NOTE: Auto-captions are only available for newly uploaded videos or when replacing existing videos. They cannot be retroactively added to your existing catalog without reuploading or replacing.
Adding Auto-Captions to Existing Videos
To add auto-captions to videos uploaded before this feature was available, you have two options:
Option 1: Replace the video (recommended)
Navigate to Content > Videos
Click Replace
under the video preview
Upload a modified version of the video file (even a minor edit will work)
🔗 Learn more about Replacing a Video
ℹ️ INFO: This preserves all comments, analytics, and metadata while triggering auto-caption generation
Option 2: Upload as a new video
Navigate to Content > Videos
Auto-captions will be generated
🔗 Learn more about Uploading a Video
📝 NOTE: This method doesn't preserve existing comments or analytics.
Editing & Downloading Auto-Captions
As with all AI tools, auto-generated captions may not be perfect. You can:
Rename, Delete, or Download the auto-generated caption file
Edit it for accuracy
Upload the edited file to replace the auto-generated captions
📝 NOTE: The auto-generated captions are available in the video's original language only.
Manually Adding Subtitles
You can add subtitles in multiple languages to make your content accessible to a wider audience.
ℹ️ INFO: Uscreen supports .VTT and .SRT files for subtitles. If your file is in a different format that's not yet supported, you'll need to convert it first.
Uploading Subtitles
Navigate to Content > Videos
Select the video you want to add subtitles to
Scroll down to Subtitles and Captions
Drag or click to upload your .VTT or .SRT file
Click Save Changes
Creating VTT Files
If you need to create VTT subtitles, use a free service such as VTT Creator or a similar tool.
Viewer Experience with Subtitles
Web player: Button in the bottom control bar
Mobile apps: Button in the player controls
TV apps: Available in player settings (varies by device)
📝 NOTE: Captions or subtitles aren't enabled by default. Viewers turn them on using the option provided in the video player. In your iOS and Android apps, captions also turn on automatically for viewers who turned on captions in their phone's accessibility settings.
Captions That Follow Your Viewers' Phone Settings
Your iOS and Android apps use the caption settings each viewer chose on their phone, so captions work the way they need them to:
Caption style: the text size, colors, font, and text edges a viewer chose for their phone apply to captions in your app.
Captions on automatically: if a viewer turned on captions in their phone settings, captions turn on as soon as they play a video. They don't need to pick a track in the player.
Viewers who haven't changed these settings see captions in the app's standard style. There's nothing for you to set up.
Viewers find these options here:
iPhone and iPad: Settings > Accessibility > Subtitles & Captioning
Android: Settings > Accessibility > Caption preferences
📝 NOTE: Phone caption settings apply to videos streamed in your iOS and Android apps. Videos downloaded for offline viewing, the web player, and TV apps keep their standard caption style.
FAQs
Why aren't my subtitles showing up in the video player?
Why aren't my subtitles showing up in the video player?
Ensure your .VTT or .SRT file is properly formatted, and the viewers have enabled subtitles in the player. Subtitles are not on by default. Viewers turn them on in the player, or in your iOS and Android apps, through their phone's caption settings.
Can I add subtitles in multiple languages?
Can I add subtitles in multiple languages?
Yes, you can upload as many different language subtitle files as needed for each video.
Why are my subtitles out of sync with the video?
Why are my subtitles out of sync with the video?
Check the timestamps in your .VTT or .SRT file. Uscreen videos play in Drop Frame format, so your source video file should also be in Drop Frame for the best alignment.
Can viewers change how captions look?
Can viewers change how captions look?
Yes, in your iOS and Android apps. The apps use the caption style each viewer set in their phone's accessibility settings, such as larger text or high-contrast colors. You can't set one caption style for your whole store.