What format are Vimeo subtitles in?

Vimeo is a popular video-sharing, hosting, and services platform that many users are beginning to turn to over YouTube. It offers live streaming and customization options that other services don't. With its burgeoning success comes greater reach with audiences. Vimeo allows users to offer greater accessibility to their videos by providing them with closed captioning capabilities.

The Vimeo platform accepts several different subtitle formats, including Scenarist (.scc), SubRip (.srt), SAMI (.SAMI), DXFP/TTML (.dxfp), although WebVTT (.vtt) is the preferred type by the Vimeo service. Many other users prefer SRT because so many different platforms use them, including Facebook and LinkedIn.

This article will explain how to create subtitles in one of the supported formats and then apply them to your Vimeo video. We'll look at several third-party tools that offer ease of use when creating subtitles to provide you with options for obtaining yours. Read on for everything you should know.

Vimeo's supported formats

Vimeo offers users a broad selection of supported formats, which opens the door to using many different third-party software options for obtaining the required captions. This makes choosing your preferred service much more straightforward.

The supported file types include the following:

- SubRip (.srt)

- DXFP/TTML (.dxfp)

- Scenarist (.scc)

- SAMI (.SAMI)

However, Vimeo strongly recommends the use of WebVTT (.vtt) files. Other platform users prefer SRT files because that's the type used on other platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and others.

How to get subtitle files from third-party software

Vimeo offers an excellent all-in-one service for its paid customers. These users can add videos and enjoy the platform's auto-closed captioning service. They can edit the transcript used for the captions as needed within the platform, with no download required. In addition, those with enterprise, advanced, or premium accounts can add auto-closed captioning to their live feed events, including webinars.

Users with free accounts must obtain their own transcripts. Because of Vimeo's broad range of supported formats, many third-party platforms are available. Several popular ones include Rev, Type Studio, and Happy Scribe. Each works differently but has its own benefits.

Happy Scribe is an excellent alternative third-party software that offers two options for generating subtitle files for Vimeo videos. You can select machine-generated or human-made. While the AI only delivers 85% accuracy in its transcribing capabilities, the human option promises 99% accuracy because a professional does the transcribing, and a proofreader follows behind them. Follow these steps to use Happy Scribe:

1. Upload your Vimeo video. Happy Scribe accepts uploads from your hard drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and YouTube.

2. Select the language of your video. Note that Happy Scribe supports more than 120 languages.

3. Decide between AI and human-generated subtitles.

4. Receive your subtitles. The AI option will deliver within minutes, depending on your file size. For the human option, you may experience a wait of up to 24 hours due to the precision work put into it.

5. Export your file in the desired format. Happy Scribe offers SRT, VTT, and many other supported file types for Vimeo.

What to do with your subtitle file

If you don't use a service like Rev that integrates with Vimeo and instead choose something like Type Studio or Happy Scribe, you must take a few more steps to have your Vimeo videos subtitled. Follow these directions:

1. Navigate to your Vimeo video manager and open the video that needs captions.

2. Click "Advanced" on the right for more video settings.

3. Click "Distribution" then "Subtitles."

4. After hitting the + button, select your file's language and type.

5. Click "Choose File" to select the captions. Once completed, toggle the captions on to activate them.

Vimeo makes adding subtitles easy

Because of all the available formats for adding subtitles, Vimeo makes the process easy for all users. Whether you're a paid user who doesn't want to use the auto-closed captioning feature or a free user who needs their own transcription service, you can pick the best third-party software for your video and the one that's the easiest for you to use.

While Rev offers ease of use by integrating with Vimeo, Happy Scribe can deliver exceptional accuracy when you opt for human-generated transcription. In addition, while convenient, some users may be uncomfortable with giving access to their accounts to a third-party service. Type Studio also promises excellent accuracy, but the service advises you'll still need to edit your transcript.

With all the options available, you have your choice of which third-party solution to use. While each one promises different benefits and can assist you with your subtitling needs, they're not all the same. Accuracy and privacy are at the top of most users priorities, which you must consider when making your decision. So, which option will you try the next time you need subtitles for your Vimeo video?