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Production

Closed Captioning

Definition

Text displayed on screen that transcribes the dialogue, sound effects, and music cues of a film for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing. Closed captions are required by most streaming platforms as a deliverable. The standard format is an SRT file, which is a text file with timestamps. Platforms like Apple TV and Amazon have specific caption formatting requirements that must be met for approval.

Example

Your 90-minute film requires an SRT caption file with approximately 1,200 caption entries. You hire a captioning service for $300, or use AI-assisted tools like Subtitle Edit for free and manually correct errors.

Related Terms

Read our in-depth guide: film subtitling captioning tools 2026

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