About

Order machine or professional captions for one or more media entries using REACH.

Captions are provided in the same language as the media. If you need translated captions or subtitles in another language, see Ordering Translations.

Captioning options

Kaltura provides two options for captioning:

Machine captions

Machine captions (ASR) provide an average accuracy rate of approximately 85%.

Machine captions support:

• Searchable video content
• Transcript editing
• Caption alignment resubmission
• Custom vocabularies and dictionaries for improved accuracy

For information about dictionaries and captioning profiles, see REACH profiles & services in Rich Media CMS.

Professional captions

Professional captions are created by human transcribers and provide approximately 99% accuracy.

Professional captions:

• Meet closed-captioning standards and accessibility requirements
• Include optional speaker identification
• Support turnaround times based on your Reach plan
• Are suitable for public-facing content such as training, educational, and marketing videos

Access the captions & enrich service 

Single video

1. Log into your Rich Media CMS.
The Entries page displays by default.
2. Locate the desired entry and click the three dots to the right and select Captions & Enrich (legacy).



The Captions & Enrich page displays.

Multiple videos

1. On the Entries page, click the boxes next to the desired videos.
The More Actions menu at the top of the page is activated.
2. Select Captions & Enrich.

Order machine captions

1. Complete the following fields:

• Unit – This option only appears if different REACH profiles (budgets) are configured for each unit in your account. The selected unit is charged for the request.
• Service - Select Machine.
• Source Media Language - Select the language spoken in the media. Available languages depend on your REACH plan.
• Feature - Select Captions.
• Turnaround time - Select a turnaround option. Available options depend on your REACH plan.

2. Click Submit.

A confirmation message displays indicating that the request has been received and the media will be updated automatically when processing is complete.

Click the X at the top left to exit the window.

When processing is complete, captions are automatically added to the media.

Order professional captions

1. Complete the following fields:

• Service - Select Professional.
• Source Media Language - Select the language spoken in the media. Available languages depend on your Reach plan.
• Feature - Select Captions.
• Turnaround time - Select a turnaround option. Available options depend on your REACH plan.
• Speaker Names - (Optional) Adds speaker names to the captions. This option only appears if enabled by your administrator. 
• Instructions & Notes - (Optional) Used to provide context for human transcribers and reviewers. Include unique terminology, product names, or proper names relevant to the media. Avoid lengthy glossaries or detailed review instructions, as transcribers typically receive only portions of the media.

2. Click Submit. 

A confirmation message displays indicating that the request has been received and the media will be updated automatically when processing is complete.

The request is added to the request list at the top of the page.

When processing is complete, captions are automatically added to the media.

View caption orders

Exiting requests

To view the order status, navigate to the three-dot menu on the entry line and select Captions & Enrich (Legacy).

Existing requests display in the Existing Requests section.

To create another request, click + Order.

Status types

The following statuses are available for captions requests:

• Pending - when generating new request
• Pending for Moderation - requests in approval queue
• Rejected - requests that were rejected on moderation. This status must include reject reason.
• Processing - sent to the vendor and vendor received request (you cannot cancel  a request when the status is Processing)
• Completed - when captions were received from the vendor
• Error - an error was sent from the vendor
• Aborted

Use the arrow at the side of the request to display the order details.

Duplicated requests

If an identical request already exists, the following message displays: Service was already done for this video. Are you sure you want to resubmit? 

Cancel request

1. To cancel a Pending request, click the trash can icon.
2. Any associated action items are canceled together with the request.



A confirmation message displays.

3. Click Yes.

If you try to delete a request that's already in progress, a message displays: The request is already in progress, therefore cannot be canceled.

User experience

Once captions are ready, they’re automatically added to the media.

Depending on admin settings, a CC button may appear, letting users toggle captions on or off. Admins can also set captions to display by default when playback starts.

If multiple caption languages are available, users can select them from the captions sub-menu in the settings.