This guide walks you through the process of uploading a caption file to your YouTube video.

Uploading a caption file is useful for media you have sent to a  captioning vendor. Make sure you have downloaded the file from the vendor in one of the following formats: srt, sbv, sub, or vtt.

  1. From the "Content" page in your YouTube Studio, click on the video you would like to caption.
    Screenshot of the YouTube Studio Channel Content page. An arrow points to the "Content" tab in the left navigation menu.
  2. On the "Video details" page, click on the "Subtitles" button in the left-side column.
    Screenshot of the YouTube Studio Video Details page. An arrow points to the "subtitles" tab in the left navigation.
  3. Click the "Add Language" button and choose "English" or "English (United States)" from the pick list.
    Screenshot of the language selection menu in the YouTube Studio Subtitle Editor. An arrow points to the English option.
  4. The language you chose will show up in the table. From here click the "Add" button in the "Subtitles" column.
    Screenshot of the YouTube Studio Subtitle Editor. An arrow points to the "Add" option in the language table.
  5. The captioning interface will pop up on screen. Click the "Upload file" button.
    YouTube Studio's captioning interface menu with an arrow pointing to the "Upload File" option.
  6. Click the radio button next to "With timing" and then "Continue."
    YouTube Studio's captioning interface for uploading a file. The "with timing" option is circled.
  7. Find and select the caption file that has been saved to your computer
  8. If you received your caption file from a vendor, we recommend quality checking a few minutes of the uploaded captions to make sure that they are accurate, consistent, and contain no errors.
  9. Once you have uploaded and edited the captions to your liking, click the "Publish" button in the upper right of the interface.
    YouTube's captioning interface on the caption editing page. And arrow points to the publish button in the corner.

You are now ready to share your captioned YouTube video!

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