Closed Captioning vs. Captions: Definitions, Uses, and How to Get a YouTube Transcript

Understanding On-Screen Text in Videos: Closed Captioning vs. Captions vs. Transcripts

Videos often rely on audio to deliver messages, but sometimes viewers can’t listen—whether they’re in a noisy café, scrolling social media with the sound off, or trying to understand a speaker with a strong accent. That’s where on-screen text becomes essential. Understanding the differences between closed captioning, caption, and a transcript can help you create content that is accessible, engaging, and easy to repurpose.

Closed Captioning

What is closed captioning?

Closed captioning is on-screen text that represents spoken dialogue and important non-speech audio information, so viewers can fully understand the content without relying on sound. This makes it different from basic subtitles. Closed captions often include:

• Speaker labels when needed (e.g., "Host:")
• Sound cues (e.g., "[music]", "[laughter]", "[door slams]")
• Tone or context indicators (e.g., "[whispering]", "[muffled]")

Closed captions aren’t just a convenience—many organizations use them to meet accessibility expectations and support inclusion. They are especially useful in real-world situations such as commuting, open offices, gyms, or any noisy environment.

Tip: If your video contains critical audio—like instructions, safety notes, or compliance information—closed captioning is the safest approach.

Captions (General / Social Captions)

Many creators ask what is a caption and assume it is the same as closed captions. While there’s some overlap, the intent is slightly different.

A caption is on-screen text that represents spoken words in a video and sometimes adds context. In social media and marketing, captions are often designed to improve watch time and comprehension. They tend to be shorter, styled for readability, and sometimes intentionally selective.

Caption Definition: Captions are on-screen text that display spoken dialogue and key audio information to help viewers understand a video.

For creators, captions serve as:

• A readability tool for mobile viewing
• A retention tool for sound-off audiences
• A clarity tool for fast speakers, accents, or noisy recordings

In practice, many creators use the term "captions" to mean subtitles-style text. But when aiming for accessibility and completeness, closed captions usually offer more detail.

Transcript

A transcript is a text document of the spoken content in a video, often without timestamps. Transcripts are ideal for repurposing content into blogs, newsletters, show notes, or study materials. While transcripts help with SEO and content accessibility, they don’t typically include non-speech audio cues and aren’t meant to be read alongside the video.

Tip: If your goal is compliance and accessibility, start with closed captioning. If your goal is creating repurposable text for blogs or educational materials, a transcript is sufficient.

Why Captions and Transcripts Matter

Captions aren’t only about compliance — they directly impact performance.

• Better Retention on Mobile

A large percentage of viewers watch with sound off. Captions keep the story clear even when audio is muted, which can increase watch time.

• Clearer Understanding for Global Audiences

Audiences may include many non-native English speakers. Captions make content easier to follow.

• Easier Repurposing

A transcript is a content multiplier. You can turn it into:

• A blog post

• LinkedIn text posts

• Email newsletter highlights

• FAQ answers and support docs

That’s why knowing how to get a transcript of a youtube video is valuable for marketers and creators.

• Improved Discoverability

While platforms vary in how they index captions, having well-written text usually helps your content ecosystem— especially when you repurpose transcripts into searchable pages.

How to Get a Transcript of a YouTube Video by CapCut

Step 1: Download the YouTube video

1
1. Get permission / confirm rights for the video.
2
2. Download the video file in a common format such as MP4 (preferred).

1
1. If you’re the channel owner, you can usually download from YouTube Studio.

3
1. Save it somewhere easy to find.

Tip: If possible, download the highest audio quality available — clean audio improves transcript accuracy.

Step 2: Create a new project in CapCut Desktop

1
1. Open CapCut Desktop.
2
2. Click Create project.

Step 3: Import the YouTube video into CapCut

1
1. In the top-left area, go to Media or Audio.
2
2. Click Import.
3
3. Select your downloaded file and confirm.

You should now see the video appear in your Media bin.

Step 4: Add the video to the timeline

Drag the video from the Media bin down into the timeline (bottom area).

At this point, CapCut can "hear" the audio in the clip and generate captions/transcription from it.

Step 5: (Optional but recommended) Improve audio clarity before transcription

Cleaner audio usually means fewer transcript mistakes.

If your clip has noise (hiss, hum, fan noise):

1
1. Click the clip in the timeline to select it.
2
2. Find the Audio controls (often on the right-side panel).
3
3. Enable Reduce noise (or adjust the Enhance voice slider).
4
4. Preview a short section to ensure the voice doesn’t sound "robotic." If it does, reduce the strength slightly.

Step 6: Generate the transcript (Auto Captions / Transcription)

CapCut Desktop typically produces transcript text via its captions feature (sometimes labeled Captions, Auto captions, or Transcription). Or simply right-click on the track file to obtain the transcript file.

Option 1
1. Generate Captions

1
1. In the top menu, click Captions.
2
2. Choose Auto captions
3
3. Set: Language of the spoken audio (important for accuracy); (If available) options like "Identify filler words" or "Bilingual captions" (optional).
4
4. Click "Generate"

CapCut will process the audio and place caption segments on your timeline.

5
1. Then CapCut will automatically recognize the audio and generate a text track.

Option 2
1. Generate Transcriptions

1
1. Right-click the audio or video track, then click "Transcript"

The software automatically analyzes the audio content in the track and converts speech into text.

2
1. Remove fillers as needed.

Note that this function also allows you to identify pauses, repeats, and move filler words. After recognition is complete, CapCut automatically display this interface, allowing you to adjust the text according to your personal needs.

3
1. Generate text

After recognition is complete, CapCut automatically generates a text track (subtitle track) on the timeline. The text content will precisely correspond to the respective speech segments according to the time axis.

Step 7: Review and edit the transcript inside CapCut

1
1. After generation, click any caption segment on the timeline.
2
2. Open the caption editor.
3
3. Do a quick quality pass:
   1. Fix names, brand terms, and numbers.
   2. Add punctuation where needed for readability.
   3. Merge/split lines so each caption is easy to read.
4
4. Fix names, brand terms, and numbers.
5
5. Add punctuation where needed for readability.
6
6. Merge/split lines so each caption is easy to read.

Best practice: Play the video at 1.0x and correct mistakes as you listen — this is faster than proofreading blindly.

Step 8: Export the transcript text and actually get the transcript

Depending on your needs, you can get the transcript in one of these common ways:

Option 1
1. Export captions as a subtitle file

Click the Export button in the upper-right corner. In the pop-up window, select only the "Captions" option.

Choose the export format as either SRT or TXT (both formats can be opened with a plain text editor):

• The SRT format includes timestamps indicating when each subtitle appears in the video.
• The TXT format contains only the subtitle text without any timing information.

Select your preferred format based on your needs, then set the file name and export location. Finally, click the "Export" button to complete the subtitle extraction.

Then you can open the file in any text editor and copy the transcript text.

Option 2
1. Copy/paste from the captions text panel

1
1. Open the caption list/text editing panel.
2
2. Select all caption text.
3
3. Copy and paste into Docs/Word/Txt.

Option 3
1. Export video with burned-in captions (not a transcript)

This produces a video with text on screen, but it’s not the transcript file. Use it only if you need captions visually displayed.

Tips for Accurate Captions and Transcripts

Recommended AI tools recap

• If you need to separate audio from a clip to work faster, use CapCut’s Online Audio Extractor: It supports multiple formats (like MP4, AVI, MKV) and is designed to isolate audio while keeping quality intact. This is especially helpful when your goal is transcription, voice cleanup, or repurposing.
• Poor audio causes bad transcripts. If your source has hiss, hum, room noise, or street noise, clean it first using CapCut's tool for Removing Background Noise from Audio.
• If you’re producing on-screen captions, CapCut Auto Caption Generator helps — but you still need a human pass for names and key terms.
• If your goal is multilingual reach, translating the audio into text can help you build translated subtitles or localized transcripts. CapCut’s Audio Translator supports translating voice to text across 100+ languages and is designed for quick conversion.

Common Caption Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Even if you understand what is closed captioning and what is a caption, quality depends on execution. Here are typical problems:

• Overly Long Lines: Captions should be easy to scan quickly. You can break long sentences into shorter chunks by clicking the "+" button and adding another.

• Bad Timing: If the text appears too early or too late, viewers stop trusting it. Make sure captions sync with speech. You can adjust it by playing the audio at slower speed and moving the text. Alternatively, you can also manually enter the timestamps in the ".srt" file.

• Wrong Names / Industry Terms: Auto-captions often miss brand names, people names, and technical vocabulary. Always proofread.
• No Punctuation: A transcript without punctuation feels confusing. A little punctuation dramatically improves readability.
• Multiple speakers are mixed: CapCut may not perfectly separate speakers. Add speaker labels manually in the transcript if needed.

Conclusion

Captions, closed captions, and transcripts serve different jobs, and choosing the right one depends on what you’re trying to achieve. Closed captioning works best when accessibility matters because it includes background sounds. Regular captions? Great for grabbing attention on mobile when viewers scroll with sound off. Transcripts let you repurpose one video into blogs, emails, or guides.

Your next upload? Make it the first one you do right. Build the checklist now. Open CapCut, import your video, generate, refine, and export your professional-grade subtitles and transcripts. With CapCut, this won't feel like extra work — it'll feel like the bare minimum.

Frequently Asked Questions

1
1. What is closed captioning in simple terms?

Closed captioning is text you can toggle on/off that shows spoken dialogue and non-speech sounds like [music], [cheering], or [glass breaking]. It’s essential for accessibility and clarity in videos with safety, medical, legal, or instructional content, ensuring viewers don’t miss critical context when audio is off.

2
1. What is a caption, and when is it "good enough"?

Captions are text overlays that follow spoken words. On social media, short, snappy captions grab attention and boost engagement. They’re "good enough" for quick hooks or sound-off viewers, but educational content or accessibility needs the fuller closed captioning approach. Engagement captions hook; closed captions include everyone.

3
1. How to get a transcript of a YouTube video using CapCut Desktop (from zero)?

Download the video with rights as an MP4, import it into CapCut Desktop, and place it on the timeline. Clean audio first if needed. Use Auto Captions or the Transcript option, then export as TXT for plain text or SRT for timestamped subtitles. Accurate transcripts rely on clean audio and correct language settings.

4
1. Why does my transcript look "wrong" even when the audio sounds fine?

Issues usually stem from language selection, multiple speakers, or unrecognized names and jargon. Auto-transcripts miss brand terms and technical words. Prioritize fixing company names, numbers, and key phrases first, add punctuation, and use find-and-replace for repeated errors to get a usable transcript quickly.

5
1. Should I export SRT or TXT if I'm repurposing content for SEO?

For blogs, emails, or LinkedIn posts, TXT works best—plain text without timestamps. For subtitles or precise syncing, SRT is necessary. Many teams export both: SRT for reference with timing, TXT as the working draft. This approach saves time and makes content repurposing efficient.

6
1. How do I make captions and transcripts sound professional, not "auto-generated"?

Treat auto-captions as a draft. Fix punctuation, remove distracting fillers, split long sentences, clarify confusing pronouns, label multiple speakers, and standardize number formats. Reading aloud catches awkward phrases. Small edits make the transcript feel human-written, clear, and professional, not machine-generated.