Typically when you’re creating a video, you know everything about your target audience. In other words, you have a solid idea of why you are creating the video, who the video is for, and what language(s) your audience speaks.

If you have a global audience, chances are you need to provide video content in one or more foreign languages. For this, you have the option to add captions to your videos via closed or open captions.

This article will provide insight into how you can add open captions to your video files, or how you can burn-in foreign subtitles on your videos.

Why are open captions important?

Before delving too deep into how to burn-in foreign subtitles on your video, it’s essential to talk about why you would want to do this in the first place. Here are the main reasons for open captions.

1. Open captions can’t be turned off

You already know that you can turn closed captions off and on at your leisure. You also know that sometimes it can be difficult for the lay video player user to know how to access and turn on closed captions. With open captions, you never run into this problem. Open captions are always on, making it easy for the user to access and read the captions as the video progresses.

2. Open captions help media professionals avoid complications

Closed captions are added as a sidecar file before video publication. If a media professional isn’t familiar with sidecar caption and/or time-captioned files, it can be difficult to distribute the video properly and on-time. If you burn-in the subtitles, you don’t have to worry about any roadblocks.

3. Some platforms don’t support sidecar files

When is the last time you turned on closed captioning on an Instagram video? Never, right? That’s because Instagram and other platforms don’t support sidecar files. But, that doesn’t mean your global audience doesn’t want to hear and understand your message. When you burn-in your subtitles to your video file, your audience will see the captions.

How to burn-in foreign subtitles…the old way

Now that you know why open captions are helpful, let’s talk about the easiest way to add open captions to your video.

If you’ve used Handbrake, Adobe Premiere, or Final Cut Pro X to burn-in foreign subtitles, you know how difficult it is to complete the process.

For example, in Handbrake, you have to export your video file, order your caption file from Rev, download your file in SRT format, download Handbrake, open your video file in Handbrake, and open your SRT file in Handbrake. Next, go to the Subtitles tab, open the Tracks dropdown menu, and click Add External SR, select the SRT file from the Finder window. Finally, load all of the captions, specify the language, choose the burn-in option, and complete at least five more steps to finish the process.

Congratulations on getting through that long explanation–an explanation that only covered part of the process for creating captions in Handbrake. The purpose of illustrating how to burn-in foreign subtitles on videos using Handbrake is to show you how complicated and time-consuming the process is when you opt for outdated measures.

Thankfully, there is a better way.

Rev now offers an open captions service, and it’s easy as pie to complete an order. 

How to burn-in foreign subtitles using Rev.com

Here are the quick and easy steps you need to follow to burn-in foreign subtitles using Rev.

1. Login to your Rev account

The first step in the process is to navigate to the Rev.com page and log in to your account.

2. Place your order for foreign subtitles or captions

Next, click on “foreign subtitles” to order your open captions. If you want English captions, click on “captions.” Once Rev directs you to the next page, click “get started.”

3. Upload video files

On the next page, Rev will ask you to upload your video files. You can upload them directly from your computer, paste a URL, or add them from YouTube or Vimeo.

4. Select the language of choice

Once you have uploaded your video file, select the language, or languages, for your subtitles. 

5. Select “burned-in subtitles” and place your order

Right below the language selection box, you’ll have the option to check “burned-in subtitles.” Check this box and then place your order.

Once the final version of your video, complete with subtitles, is ready, Rev will send you a link for you to download your video. This link will be live for 7 days and you can click on it at any time.