What are Open Captions?
Open captions are subtitles that are permanently embedded in the video image, so viewers cannot turn them off or change their styling. They are also known as burned-in, hardcoded, or baked-in captions.
Open captions are text captions that are rendered directly into the video frames. Because they are part of the picture, they play everywhere the video plays, including platforms or players that do not support caption tracks.
Why it matters
Open captions help ensure critical information is readable in every context, especially when audio is off by default or unreliable. Support, ops, L&D, and product teams often share walkthroughs in chat tools, internal wikis, LMSs, and screen recordings captured from different devices. Open captions reduce the risk of "no captions available" and make quick, silent viewing possible.
The downside is flexibility. Since open captions are burned into the video, you cannot toggle them off, change font size or colors, or switch languages without producing a new video render.
Open captions vs closed captions
- Open captions: Always visible. No separate caption file. Styling and placement are fixed.
- Closed captions: Stored as a separate track (often SRT or VTT). Viewers can turn them on or off, and some players allow styling changes.
If you need accessibility controls, multiple languages, or the option to update text without re-exporting the video, closed captions are usually the better fit. If you need maximum compatibility and guaranteed visibility, open captions can be the right choice.
How open captions are created
- Generate a transcript (manual or via ASR) and time it to the audio.
- Edit for readability: fix names, acronyms, punctuation, and line breaks.
- Burn the captions into the video during export, choosing font, size, color, background, and safe placement.
In Vidocu, teams commonly start with auto subtitles, correct the wording once, then export a version with burned-in subtitles for channels where caption tracks are inconsistent.
Best practices
- Keep lines short: aim for 32 to 42 characters per line and 1 to 2 lines on screen.
- Use high contrast: white text with a subtle shadow or a semi-transparent background improves legibility over UI screens.
- Avoid covering UI: place captions away from buttons, menus, and tooltips. Screen recordings often have important elements near the bottom.
- Match reading speed: around 120 to 160 words per minute is comfortable for most viewers.
- Plan language versions: if you need multiple languages, decide early whether to export separate open-caption videos per language or use closed captions for easier switching.
Open captions are a practical choice when you want a single, always-readable video that works everywhere, with the tradeoff that updates require a new export.
Why it matters
Always visible
Open captions are embedded in the video image, so viewers cannot toggle them off.
Maximum compatibility
They display even in players or platforms that do not support caption tracks.
Harder to update
Fixing a typo or changing timing requires re-rendering and re-uploading the video.
Fixed styling and placement
Font, size, and position are baked in, which can be good for consistency but limits accessibility controls.
Best for silent-first viewing
Useful for short training clips and walkthroughs commonly watched with audio muted.
Examples
- •A support team posts a short troubleshooting screencast in a chat channel where videos autoplay muted, so the burned-in captions carry the key steps.
- •An ops team shares a compliance process walkthrough in an internal wiki that uses an embedded player with unreliable caption track support.
- •An L&D team exports open-caption versions of onboarding videos so every learner sees the terminology and steps even on mobile.
- •A product team publishes a feature update clip for social channels where caption files are not consistently loaded, ensuring the message is readable.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Open captions are often called burned-in, baked-in, or hardcoded subtitles because the text is rendered into the video frames.
No. Because they are part of the video image, viewers cannot disable them.
They can improve accessibility by making speech visible, but they lack user controls (like resizing) and may not satisfy policies that require closed captions or separate text alternatives. Check your organization’s accessibility standard.
Use closed captions when you need toggling, styling controls, multiple languages, or easy edits via SRT/VTT. Use open captions when you need guaranteed visibility and broad player compatibility.
Yes. You can use a timed caption file (SRT/VTT) as the source and then burn it into the video during export.
Related terms
Learn more
- AI Subtitles Generator — Generate and edit subtitles, then export videos with captions in the format you need.
- Video Translation — Create multilingual versions of your videos when open captions need separate exports per language.
- Video to Documentation — Turn a captioned screen recording into step-by-step written documentation with screenshots.