Transcripts

Adding a transcript allows even more people to access your video content when they can't use your captions, including those using assistive technology like screen readers and those who don't have time to watch the full video.

Offer a Transcript Whenever Possible

Put all the text from your captions into a document or separate screen to create a transcript of the video. (Make sure you’re following accessibility guidelines for documents and web content!)

Linking to Your Transcript

Place a link to your transcript, or provide the entire transcript itself, in close proximity to your video.

Formatting Your Transcript Document

To force a line break, use a blank line.
To designate sounds, use square brackets. For example: [intro music].
Add >> to identify speakers or a change of speaker.
For transcript documents in a language that is not English, save the file with UTF-8 encoding to improve display accuracy.

Sample Transcript Formatting

>> INSTRUCTOR: Hi, class. Today we’ll be moving on to the next chapter. We've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's go ahead and turn to page

[cough]

>> STUDENT: Excuse me, can I ask about the homework first?

>> INSTRUCTOR: Sure, what’s your question?

Transcripts and YouTube

Note that YouTube automatically provides a transcript when captions are added to a video. You will still need to edit the auto-generated transcript to ensure accuracy.

Digital Accessibility