| Factor |
Closed Caption |
Open Caption |
| Visibility |
User has the ability to turn the caption on/off |
Always visible on the screen user cannot turn on/off |
| Decoder |
User needs a special decoder (either as software or hardware) in
order to turn the caption on/off |
There is no need for an additional decoder to view the caption |
| Search |
Because captions are preserved as text, users will be able to
archive and search for specific video content |
This function is not available in open caption |
| Copy |
Because captions are saved in a different text format, it is easier
for other people to copy the script |
The text is embedded into the image, making it harder for other
people to copy |
| Compression |
Graphic quality of captions won't be affected if the video is
compressed |
Quality will be lost with compression |
| Formatting |
Formatting is limited. The look, feel, and location of the caption
is determined by the decoder |
Allows for more control over caption location, size, color, font.
Customization is possible per each caption screen |
| File Submission |
Client can either send low resolution or high resolution video |
Client must only send high quality/full resolution video. The final
graphic quality will be determined by the source video |
| File Delivery |
A separate text file will be delivered back to Client |
A full resolution open captioned video file will be delivered back
to Client |
| Edit |
Since the captions are saved in text format, fixing a mistake will
be very simple and will not require much time |
Any changes on the caption will require a re-encode of the video
source, which can add a lot of time and extra work |
| Multi-language |
Multi-language captioning can be provided along with 1 video file |
Multi-language captioning requires separate video files for each
language |
