Introduction

This article will walk you through adding subtitles using a .srt (subtitle format) file, how to create a .srt file and how to use the auto-generated subtitles available in our tools.

Adding Subtitles With/Without a .srt File

With a .srt File

After opening the subtitle menu, click on upload file to upload your .srt file. Click on done to add the subtitles to the video.

Without a .srt File

How to Create a .srt File

Within an Interactive Video assignment, you now have the option to upload custom subtitles for public-access videos through the online captioning software Amara. This can be helpful if you don’t already have a .srt file for a video but would still like to add captions to a public video.

Note: Amara is third-party software which is not affiliated with FeedbackFruits.

Amara lets you copy-paste a URL from a video host, such as YouTube, and manually transcribe your own subtitles, in any supported language, inside of their online editor. This can improve the accessibility of your video course content and allow students to read along, instead of - or in addition to - just watching and listening.

First, access Amara (link) - you will need to create an account in order to set up your subtitles. If you already have an account, log in and skip ahead to the Adding Subtitles With Amara step.

Creating a New Amara Account

To begin setting up a new account, click on Start subtitling for free.

You will be then presented with four boxes. To continue for free, click on Create in the Public box. If you wish to sign up for a paid private space for your institution, check the other options offered by Amara.

First you will be asked to create an account, you can start creating subtitles for your videos after creating and verifying the account.

Adding Subtitles With Amara

To get started adding subtitles to your video, click on Add videos.

You will be prompted to add the URL of the video as well as the language spoken in the video.

After selecting this, click Add to Amara Public to link your chosen video to the Amara platform.

You should now see the video appear on your screen.
If this is your first time subtitling, you will need to set up your languages to continue.

After setting the language you can see a new button Add/Edit subtitles.
Click on this to start subtitling.
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Here you will be shown a thumbnail of the video, its title, the language you selected earlier, and its duration. On the right hand side of this interface under Add new subtitles, you can select the language in which you wish to begin transcribing.

After choosing a language, press the green Add button. You will then be taken to the editor:

An overlay will appear when you first start editing a new video, listing the basic inputs and options you will need to get started with captioning.

Tip: you can adjust the speed of the video you are transcribing to be slower, so it's easier to type the subtitles at the same pace as the speech.

After you’re done transcribing, syncing, and reviewing, click on save in the top right-hand corner and then exit to return to the video overview. Here, you can click download and choose .srt to download your file. Now you’re ready to upload this file in Interactive Video.

After uploading your video in Interactive Video, click on the add subtitles button to open the following interface:

Here, you can click on Upload file to choose the .srt file you created in Amara.
Once the subtitles have been added you can press the ellipsis to either Delete or Download the subtitles. You might need to refresh the page before the subtitles show up correctly in the video.

Once you’re finished, click Done. Now your video will contain subtitles.

For more detailed information on Amara’s subtitle editor and the available options, please refer to their help center which you can find here.

Using Auto-Generated Subtitles (BETA)

You can also choose to generate the subtitles automatically. For now, this only works for files that are directly uploaded and not through links to other platforms, such as Youtube.

Please keep in mind that the auto-generated subtitles function is still being validated and tested, which is why it's in the beta-testing phase. There might be some areas of improvement, and stability is not yet guaranteed - we welcome your feedback on this feature.

For the complete overview with explanations of the beta tools and feature flagged functionalities please check here, you will find more information on the setup of these functionalities here as well.

When you have uploaded the video, click Subtitles and then Configure.
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Next you can select a spoken language for the Auto-generate subtitles box. Once you have selected the spoken language in the video you can press Generate.

This process usually takes a few moments. You can close the window and continue working while the subtitles are being generated.

Once the subtitles have been generated you can press the ellipsis to either Delete or Download the subtitles. You might need to refresh the page before the subtitles show up correctly in the video.

Once you’re finished, click Done. Now your video will contain subtitles - we recommend reading over these before sharing the video. You can manually adjust certain incorrect subtitles if needed.