Captions and subtitles, explained.
Subtitle formats, readable caption style, accessibility law and step-by-step platform how-tos — written to be useful whether or not you ever use AutoCap, with every source named.
- Subtitle formats
SRT vs VTT: what’s the difference, and which subtitle file should you use?
How the two most common subtitle files differ line by line, which platforms accept which, and how to convert between them without breaking the timing.8 min read · Updated - Caption types
Captions vs subtitles, open vs closed — and where SDH fits in
What each term actually means, what viewers can and can’t do with each kind of caption, and why many creators publish both.8 min read · Updated - Readability
Caption best practices: how to make captions people can actually read
The working rules for captions that are easy to read on a phone, with the figures professional style guides actually use.9 min read · Updated - Accessibility law
Captions and the law: video accessibility rules in the EU and US
Which rules reach online video on each side of the Atlantic, what they ask for, the dates that apply today, and a practical checklist.9 min read · Updated - How-to
How to upload an SRT or VTT caption file to YouTube
The exact YouTube Studio steps, what to do when a file is rejected or drifts out of sync, and the equivalent steps on LinkedIn and Vimeo.8 min read · Updated - Typography
The best fonts for captions and subtitles, and how big to set them
Which typefaces stay readable at caption size, what broadcasters actually specify, and how large captions should be on landscape and vertical video.6 min read · Updated - How-to
How to add captions to an Instagram Story
The Captions sticker step by step, its limits (including in Europe), and how to burn styled captions into a Story video instead.5 min read · Updated
Checked against the source, dated, and kept current.
Figures, dates and procedures come from primary sources — the W3C, EUR-Lex, the US Department of Justice, the FCC’s rules, the BBC, Netflix, DCMP and the platforms’ own help centers — and each guide names them in the text.
Every guide shows the date it was last updated. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we’ll fix it.