Video Information
Source Vimeo Help Center
Article Captions and subtitles
Video duration 1 min 19 sec

Video creators upload captions and subtitles to their own videos. If you do not see your language, it probably means that the video has not yet been transcribed or translated. Feel free to contact the video creator directly to inquire!

We use Helvetica Neue with bold styling for captioning and subtitle display in the Vimeo player. The size of the font is responsive, meaning it will adjust per the size of your browser window.

Adding captions or subtitles to your video

You can add captions or subtitles to your video by going to your video manager, clicking into the desired video, then selecting the Advanced option on the right side to access additional video settings. Open the Distribution tab and head to the Subtitles section.

To upload a captions or subtitles file, click the “+” button, specify the language, and tell us whether it’s a caption or subtitle file. Then click Choose File and upload the file from your computer. Once the file is uploaded, you’ll need to toggle it on to activate it. To replace, delete, download, or edit the file, click on the three dots next to the file name and select the corresponding option from the menu.

If you don’t already have captions or subtitles for your video, you can purchase them through one of the trusted providers listed below. These same providers are also listed on the Advanced tab of your video’s settings.

Vimeo supports the following captions and subtitles file formats: SRT, WebVTT, DFXP/TTML, SCC, and SAMI files, but we recommend using WebVTT whenever possible. We also recommend encoding your caption files in UTF-8 format. Otherwise, captions that contain special characters may not display properly during playback.​

Automatic closed captions

Vimeo offers automatic closed captioning, so all videos will be automatically transcribed by our system during the upload process. This tool is currently only available to our Enterprise members, but we will be rolling it out to all future membership tiers in the future. Current Enterprise users should reach out to their account manager to enable this feature. 

Automatic closed captioning is enabled by default. To disable this feature, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to your video’s Advanced Settings page and clicking on the Distribution tab.
  2. Scroll down to the subheading Subtitles and Captions.
  3. Below Captions, toggle off Auto closed captions

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Note: At this time, all automatic closed captions are only available in English. So if you would like to offer additional languages to your audience, you’ll need to upload separate subtitle or caption files.  

Your viewers will be able to turn on captions, and toggle between the available languages, on your video’s clip page by clicking the [CC] button on the video toolbar. 

Below the player on the simplified video settings and clip pages, you’ll find a [CC] button that when pressed will launch our new captions panel. From the panel, you’ll be able to follow along with the video’s transcript. Clicking on any segment of the transcript will take you to that point in the video. Additionally, if you leave the panel open while your video plays, the system will auto-scroll through each line of text and highlight it when it appears in the player so that you can follow along.


- Subtitles and captions are necessary
to help keep the internet
accessible for everyone.
Let me tell you a little more about
how to use them on Vimeo.
Subtitles provide viewers
with the video's dialogue in written form,
while captions include subtitles,
but also a written description
of what's occurring in their videos.
If a video has subtitles or captions,
you'll see a CC button in
the play bar of a video.
Simply click on it and
then choose the caption
or subtitle track you'd like to see.
Video creators upload captions
and subtitles themselves,
so if you don't see your language,
it means the video has not yet been
transcribed or translated.
In that case, you can contact the creator
to see if they're able
to add them for you.
If you want to add captions or
subtitles to your own video,
go to your video settings page,
choose the distribution tab
and then go to subtitles.
Click the plus symbol to add a new file,
select the language and whether
it's captions or subtitles,
and click choose file.
If you need help creating
a subtitle or caption file,
read further into this help article
for some great resources.
We support a variety of
different file formats
in all of these languages,
which this help article
dives into as well.
Thanks for helping make the Internet
more accessible for all.

Video Information
Source Vimeo Help Center
Article Captions and subtitles
Video duration 1 min 19 sec