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Integration of captions

How to embed captions on different platforms used at the University of Göttingen

The options for embedding captions vary depending on the platform on which you provide your videos for use. The option of including captions as separate files (format .srt or .vtt), so that they can be flexibly switched on and off, is to be favored - but it depends on the available player.

If you already have a video available, you need to perform the following steps

  • Generate and correct the caption file or transcript using Amberscript
  • Download the caption file in .srt or .vtt format (see below) or the transcript in .txt format.
  • (If necessary, hardcode the captions into the video)
  • Integrate the video with the associated caption file or provide the video file with hardcoded captions on the desired platform


Stud.IP (hardcoded captions)

Currently, only videos with hardcoded captions can be uploaded to the Stud.IP platform. The option to use caption files (.vtt) in Stud.IP, which can be embedded in the Opencast module and flexibly switched on and off in the associated player, is expected to be available at the beginning of the summer semester 2023.

Media module

  • To hardcode the captions into your video file, proceed as described below.
  • Then load the file with the captions in the Media module into your course via 'Add Files' on the left side control panel.
  • In the left control panel under 'Actions' with 'Medienreihenfolge ändern' you have the option to change the order of the media items. You can separate the different video versions by, for example, dragging videos with captions to the bottom to increase the clarity of the section. Also, naming the different files consistently (for example, date.lecture_name_subtitle) will increase clarity. Don't forget to inform your students about the structuring logic you used.
  • The website of 'Digital Learning and Teaching' provides an overview on how to use the media server including instructions on how to upload videos.

Opencast module (currently hardcoded captions, from summer term '23 onwards .vtt)

  • To hardcode the captions into your video file, proceed as described below.
  • Then upload the file with the captions back into the Opencast module in your course via the left control panel under 'Actions', 'Medien Hochladen'.
  • Make sure to name the different versions consistently (e.g. date.lecture_name_subtitle), so that students can easily find the captioned versions using the search function (above the video files in the Opencast tab).
  • The website of 'Digital Learning and Teaching' provides an overview of the components and functions of Opencast.


Ilias (.srt)

If you are developing learning modules with video elements, you can include the Amberscript caption file in .srt format after uploading the video file to Ilias. To do this, proceed as follows:

  • Insert Video: In edit mode, click the 'Click here to insert new content' button and select 'Insert image/audio/video' from the list.
  • Give the video a title and upload it via 'Select file'.
  • In the next step, click on 'Subtitles' in the top left corner and an associated screen will appear. Here you click 'Select file' and insert the corresponding .srt file. Then define the language of the captions in the field to the right and click 'Upload'. If you want to upload subtitle files in other languages, repeat this step.

  • When playing the video, by selecting the 'CC' icon, the player shows which caption/subtitle languages are available. Selecting the 'None' option will turn off the captions.

  • Note: Ilias allows uploads of videos only up to a maximum size of 500MB. For larger videos we recommend uploading them via the Opencast module in Stud.IP and embedding them in Ilias via the URL. You create the URL by clicking in the row of the video on the three dots on the right in the Opencast module and selecting 'Share video'. In the pop-up window, create the URL by clicking the '+ Add Share Link' button below. For embedding in Ilias, do not select a file as resource in the second step, but click the 'URL' field and paste the copied link there.


University homepage

Integrating videos via the media server (.srt / .vtt)

You can embed videos uploaded on the Stud.IP media server on the university homepage via an URL. You then upload the generated caption files in .srt or .vtt format to the GCMS, so that captions for the video are available on the homepage. Instructions for embedding videos via the media server and adding captions in GCMS are available on the GCMS help pages. The GCMS help pages also provide instructions on how to upload (caption) files to the document database.

Integrating videos via YouTube (.txt or .srt /.vtt)

If you provide videos via YouTube and embed them on the university homepage, you can use the corrected Amberscript transcripts, as well as the .srt/.vtt caption files instead of the YouTube generated captions. We recommend this because Amberscript offers better speech recognition than YouTube and therefore your correction effort is lower.
Using a transcript (.txt, recommended)

  • When downloading the transcript from the Amberscript service, deactivate 'Include timestamps' and download the file via 'export text' as text, or save it as a .txt file afterwards.
  • When uploading your video to YouTube Studio, click 'show more' and define the video language including caption certification in the upload process.
  • In the 'Video Elements' step, in the section 'Add Subtitles' you add the .txt file via 'Add' and 'Upload File', choosing 'Without timing' and 'done'. In the following, YouTube will create the timestamps for the captions. Uploading the video and creating the timestamps may take some time depending on the length of the video and server capacity.
  • Click 'Next' and finish the rest of the uploading process. Afterwards you can embed the video on the university homepage as usual. Instructions for embedding YouTube videos are available on the GCMS help pages.
  • Note: During the automatic generation of the timestamps, the captions are saved as a draft. When the file generation is finished, the captions must be published, otherwise the uncorrected YouTube-generated captions are displayed. To do this, open your video in YouTube Studio and select 'Subtitles' in the left navigation panel and then your video. In the middle, there appear rows related to your video. Unpublish or delete the captions marked as 'automatic' (three dots button, right side of the row). Click the 'Edit' button in the remaining row on the right and select 'Publish' in the pop-up window at the top right to display your corrected captions.

Using .srt or .vtt files

  • When downloading the captions from Amberscript, choose .srt or .vtt format.
  • When uploading your video to YouTube, click 'show more' and define the video language including caption certification in the upload process.
  • In the 'Video Elements' step, in the section 'Add Subtitles' you add the .srt/.vtt file via 'Upload File', choosing 'with timing’ and clicking 'done'. Uploading the video may take some time depending on the length of the video and server capacity.
  • Click 'Next' and finish the rest of the uploading process. Afterwards you can embed the video on the university homepage as usual. Instructions for embedding YouTube videos are available on the GCMS help pages.
  • Note: Your added captions are first saved as a draft and must be published in a second step, otherwise the uncorrected YouTube-generated captions are displayed. To do this, open your video in YouTube Studio and select 'Subtitles' in the left navigation paneland then your video. In the middle, there appear rows related to your video. Unpublish or delete the captions marked as 'automatic' (three dots button, right side of the row). Click the 'Edit' button in the remaining row on the right and select 'Publish' in the pop-up window at the top right to display your corrected captions.


Moodle (.vtt)

  • In a text and media box, add your video as usual using the 'Insert or edit audio/video file' button, inserting the file in the 'Video' tab in the pop-up window.
  • In the section 'Subtitles and Captions' upload the corresponding .vtt file via 'browse repositories'. (If you have a translation of your file, you can add them as subtitles.) After that click 'Insert media' and when you are done editing click 'Save and to course'.
  • Users can now select the captions and also adjust the appearance, size and position of the captions to suit their own needs using the caption settings in the player. General instructions for embedding a video in a player are available on the Moodle documentation.

Captions in Moodle

Ways to hardcode captions into videos

In general, if you can only provide the video with hardcoded captions due to technical constraints, please also provide the video in the basic version (without hardcoded captions).

Browser-based

e.g. via Happy Scribe

  • Upload video file (.mp4, .avi, .mov) and caption file (.srt, .vtt) via 'select file'. By clicking the blue button 'hardcode subtitles' the captions are permanently added to the video. The download of the finished file starts automatically.

VLC Player (.srt /.vtt)

Note: To keep video files without captions, it's best to work with copies of the videos, since VLC hardcodes the captions into your selected source file. Also, the video and caption files must be named identically, except for the file format extension.
To hardcode captions into the video, do the following:

  • Open VLC Player. In the user interface, click the 'Media' tab and select 'Stream'.
  • In the pop-up window, click 'Add' to upload a video file to VLC.
  • Under the box for file selection, check the 'Use a subtitle file' checkbox and click 'Browse' to select the caption file associated with the video.
    capitons in VLC
  • Click on 'Stream' and in the step of 'Source' on 'Next'.
  • In the step 'Destination Setup' choose 'File'. Then click the 'Next' button
  • In the step 'Transcoding Options' click on the 'Wrench icon' to open the settings.
    Untertitel in VLC2
  • There select the tab 'Subtitles' and enable the options 'Subtitles' and 'Overlay subtitles on the video'. End this step by clicking 'save'. Again in the step 'Transcoding options' click 'Next'.
    Captions in VLS
  • In the step 'Option Setup' click 'Stream'. The captions are now hardcoded and the file opens with the permanently added captions.