Burned-In Captions vs SRT and VTT Sidecars
Burned-in captions survive re-upload and look designed. SRT and VTT sidecars stay searchable and swap language instantly. Pick per destination.
Burned-in captions survive re-upload and look designed. SRT and VTT sidecars stay searchable and swap language instantly. Pick per destination.
A word-perfect caption track can still be unreadable. Transcription gets the words right — pacing, line breaks, and contrast are a separate craft on top.
A guessed font name doesn't error — it just doesn't do what you asked. What each font category does to legibility at caption size on moving footage.
The same caption preset reads differently over a bright kitchen than a dim night shot. Preview two styles on five seconds of your footage before committing.
The Act's main deadline already passed in 2025. A narrower grace period runs to 2030 for unchanged services — how to triage a back catalogue against both.
Every talking-head video already contains its own transcript. What it's actually raw material for, and why the text file outlasts the burned-in caption.
Transcription covers 165 language codes. Dubbing covers 25. Six TTS engines each cover a different subset. Here is the real coverage picture, snapshot dated.