What is the difference between open and closed captions?

Closed Captions are available on DVDs from Web Wide Video. The text information is independent of the video information, so the viewer can choose whether to have captions on or off.

An easy way to think of closed captions is if someone has a picture, puts a piece of transparent plastic over it, then draws on the plastic with a marker. The original picture isn't harmed, and the plastic can be removed to show only the original picture.

Open Captions work slightly differently. With open captions, the caption words are overlaid directly into the video information itself.

If we use the idea of a picture again, using open captions would be equivilent to taking a marker and drawing directly on the picture. The change is permanent, and not reverseable. (i.e. the viewer can NOT turn off the captions!)

Due to technical limitations, for videos uploaded to the web open captions are the only available captioning option.

Videos that are going to DVD and the web will have closed captions for the DVDs and open captions for the web unless instructed differently by the customer.

See other frequently asked questions.