Today, YouTube is the leading platform in providing video-on-demand content for viewing. YouTube provides all sorts of content in one place, explaining why billions of people use this to access video content. But do you know that almost 5% of the world’s population has a hearing impairment? This is the reason why creators use CC on their YouTube videos. CC doesn’t only help people with hearing loss; it also helps in retaining viewers to your videos. Here’s everything you need to know about what CC means on YouTube.
What Is Closed Captioning?
Adding closed captioning in YouTube video transcribes the audio content into text so viewers can better understand the content. Today, almost every broadcasting platform offers this to users to access audio programming. The CC feature mainly benefits specially abled users who can see and hear. Closed captioning is also known as subtitles and is seen on YouTube, Netflix, and HULU.
Why Do we use Closed Captioning?
YouTube creators use close captioning to make video content more engaging and appealing for users. Sometimes, information can go wrong due to a lack of clarity, changing the whole concept of the video. Having a built-in automated CC feature can help creators get the right content. Another reason YouTubers use close captions is that they can attract all kinds of viewers through this feature.
How to Add YouTube CC to Your YouTube Videos?
YouTube automatically adds subtitles to your video using AI. Your viewers just need to click on the CC icon on the playback screen. However, these CCs are low-quality as they are auto-generated and might not help boost your videos.
Let’s see how to add closed captioning in YouTube video.
Add Manually or Upload File
If you want to manually add closed captions to your videos, go to YouTube Studio and click the content section. Your videos will appear. Select the video you’d like to caption. In the subtitles tab, you can add the video language. You can type manually, or upload a .srt or .sbv file. You can also add a transcript file that YT will use to auto-sync.
When you upload the CC file, you have the option to select “with timing” and “without timing.” If you have timestamps in the file, it will help YouTube auto-sync the video. If not, speech recognition technology will detect text. However, it is not effective.
Bonus Tip
Adding and optimizing CC for your video will help boost SEO, making your videos easier to find.
How do you turn your default to captions on all videos?
There are slightly different methods to turn on default closed captioning in YouTube mobile and desktop/ browser.
In Mobile
Open the app, click on the profile icon in the top right corner, go to settings, tap captions, and set the toggle to “Always show captions”
In Desktop
Go to YouTube.com, click settings in the top right corner, then playback and performance, and check the “Always show captions” box.
Additionally, you can change caption preference, such as style or language.
Conclusion
We hope we have helped you understand what cc means on YouTube and why it is important for creators. Closed captions are an indirect way to retain people to your YouTube videos. Viewers are prone to leave the video if they cannot understand the videos and do not have subtitles to help. If you ensure you get CCs on your videos, you can increase 60% of your chances of making your viewers stick to your videos.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How do I enable CC on YouTube?
When the YouTube video is playing in the bottom right corner, you will see a settings icon. Click on that and you will see CC/subtitle options, click and choose the language or the default.
Q2. How Do I Pull CC From YouTube?
Start the YouTube video and tap on the three-dot icon. It will show the transcription, copy it, paste it into a text editor, and save it to the device.
Q3. Why Some YouTube Videos Don’t Have CC?
Some reasons why YouTube videos don’t have CC are creators not adding it manually or choosing automatic captions. YouTube usually automatically generates CC, but if it doesn’t, it means the video quality isn’t suitable for closed captions.
Q4. What is the difference between subtitles and CC?
Subtitles are an alternative to spoken language in the content. The CC is written from dialogue, sound effects, and background noise.
Q5. How do I turn off CC in YouTube?
The YouTube video is playing. Go to the bottom right corner, click settings, and then CC. You will see the option to turn off CC.
Q6. How do I turn on transcripts on YouTube?
Look for Show More in the description section. Click on it, and the description will expand. Scroll down to see the Show transcript option; click on it to view the transcript.
