This tutorial will give you an operational overview of how to locate files, update or make changes to Kaltura captions and download the captions file.

Overview

All videos uploaded to your Kaltura 'My Media' will receive automatic closed captions and transcripts. Use the Kaltura Captions Editor to improve the accuracy of automatic captions. After editing automatic captions, change the label from "automatic" to "edited. Note that automatic captions are limited to English and Spanish.

To get started, add new media to Kaltura My Media and wait for the captions file to finish processing.

Accessibility

People with hearing loss depend on media with highly accurate closed captions (approximately 99%). Kaltura provides automatic machine-generated closed captions for all videos uploaded. However, automatic captions and transcripts are only roughly 80% accurate, well below the threshold of accessibility. Use the Kaltura Captions Editor to improve the accuracy of automatic closed captions.

Universal Design

There are numerous ways closed captions benefit everyone, including:

Improved note taking
Improved attention
ESL support

Locate the Caption File

Login to Canvas and open any course.
Select the My Media link in the course navigation menu.
Locate the video you’d like to edit, then select the Edit icon, which looks like a pencil.
On the primary Edit page, below the video player, select the Captions tab.
A table containing the SRT caption file and Actions will be available.
Note that automatic captions created after mid-December 2021 will include the Label "Automatic." After editing, update the label to "Edited."

Edit the Captions with the Kaltura Captions Editor

Note: If you prefer, you can download the caption file, edit it in a plain text editor, and re-upload it to Kaltura (see next section).

Select the Edit Captions button.
On the following Closed Captions Editor page, you will find a main column with captions.
- There are time markers adjacent to each caption, indicating where captions appear in the video.
Simply select the caption you’d like to edit and make any changes needed.
Use the preview player to play back the current caption selection to confirm readability.
Use tools like Search and Replace to streamline the process.
In addition to spelling, be mindful of the following when editing captions:
- Capitalization
- Punctuation
- Speaker identification
- Important non-verbal sounds
When you are finished, select the Save button.
- Save frequently during editing to avoid losing your progress.
- Only use the Revert button if you've made a significant error that cannot be undone. This resets all edits.

Download the Captions File, Edit, and Upload
(Alternative to Kaltura Caption Editor)

On the primary Edit page, rather than selecting the Edit Captions button, select the Download button in the column labeled Actions.
The file will download to your computer in the .srt format (SubRip text).
Open the .srt file in any plain text editing application (i.e. Notepad for Windows, TextEdit for Mac).
Make any edits needed and save the changes.
Select the Upload captions file button, then select the .srt file that you edited and saved.
Set the new caption file as the default, or delete the previous, unedited file.

Update Automatic Caption Label to Edited

Only automatic captions created after mid-December 2021 will include the Automatic label.
Videos with automatic captions created earlier will not have this label, but will still recommend manually updating it to show if captions are Automatic (unedited) or Edited.

Return to the primary Edit page and select the Captions tab again.
Select the Edit button, which looks like a pencil in the Actions column.
In the Edit Captions Modal, edit the Label field by replacing "(Automatic)" with "(Edited)."
Also, update the Accuracy field by selecting the estimated percentage from the dropdown menu.
Note: The goal is 98%-99% accuracy.
Select Save.
The caption label should now be updated in the table on the primary Edit page.

Note that anyone who views your video will see this label when selecting captions in the video player.

Additional Resources:

Need something more?

More information on Something can be located on the Learning Environments website

If you need immediate assistance, please feel free to reach out to Learning Environments:

713-348-4357 | teaching@rice.edu | Learning Environments website