Since more users are accessing the internet, it has become increasingly important to make your content easily accessible.
To maximize user engagement and content visibility, it is critical to make your content accessible to ALL users, including those with disabilities or who speak a different language than yours.
For example, subtitles in video content can make it more accessible. However, transcribing manually would take a long time and would be very tedious.
Thankfully, there are several automatic subtitling software programs available today that automate this process. Nonetheless, with so many programs available today, choosing the best one can be difficult.
In this article, we will provide you with 10 tips on how to choose an automatic generator software in order to help you make an informed decision.
Let’s dive right in.
What is Automatic Subtitle Generator Software and Why Should You Use It?
An automatic subtitle generator software automatically creates and adds subtitles and transcriptions to your video or audio files.
By using automated software and adding subtitles and transcriptions to audio and video content, you will be able to take advantage of a wide range of benefits.
Below are listed some of the most relevant benefits.
Improves the Accessibility
As mentioned in the introduction to this post, adding subtitles to your video or adding text to your audio files could dramatically improve accessibility.
With subtitles and transcripts, for instance, you can ensure that people with hearing impairments can understand your content. For those who speak other languages, it is also easier to read the captions instead of listening to the audio.
Transcripts and subtitles can also provide greater accessibility for those who find themselves in specific situations where they cannot hear audio, such as when they are in a crowded place or unable to hear it clearly.
Saves Time and Effort
It can be quite tedious and challenging to transcribe each word in your video and audio files by hand, as it requires considerable precision and time spent listening and relistening to the exact wording in your files.
In contrast, automated subtitle generators let you generate subtitles and captions in just seconds, with high rates of accuracy that can easily reach 100% through a few manual adjustments.
Ease of Scale
Transcribing an audio or video file manually involves a strict limit on the number of transcriptions you can perform each day, week, or month.
As a result, you may struggle to share and publish content as quickly, which can hinder your sales, traffic, and growth.
Automated transcription software, on the other hand, enables the transcription of a large number of files quickly. As a result, you can continue uploading, sharing, and creating content without having to wait for the transcription to be done.
Enhances Content Value and Increases Ranking
Video content cannot be viewed or listened to by search engines. As such, video and audio files by themselves will not contribute to the overall optimization of your content.
By contrast, if you transcribe or caption a video or audio file, Google bots will be able to read your transcriptions and determine what the video is about.
This may improve your website’s indexing and rankings in search engines, resulting in more traffic and visibility.
Higher Engagement
According to the research, videos with subtitles are significantly more engaging than videos without subtitles.
A possible reason for this is that the content is accessible to all, and anyone can view the videos and understand the context regardless of their location, e.g., in a noisy environment.
Increases Video Reach
The audience on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram prefers to watch videos with subtitles since they get the information they’re looking for quickly without having to listen.
10 Valuable Tips to Choose the Right Automatic Generator Software
Consider Your Budget
If you’re a small company or individual with a limited budget or none at all, pricing is obviously one of the first factors to keep in mind when choosing automatic generator software.
Software with affordable rates exists, but other software is more expensive, and these costs may weigh heavily on your finances.
When this is your situation, be sure to select software that provides the best balance between cost and performance.
Ensure a Quick Turnaround Time
When you plan a content calendar, expect to publish content on a specific date, and this content includes subtitles and transcription, then the turnaround time offered by the software is crucial.
Obviously, transcribing or adding subtitles to videos or audio is obviously subjective to the length of the recording, as well as the service you select.
Some companies, for instance, let you choose between automatic subtitles and human-made subtitles. There may be a slight difference in the accuracy percentage, but turnaround times can vary greatly, from 5 minutes for automatic transcriptions to 24 hours for human transcriptions.
Verify Providing High Accuracy Rates
The accuracy percentage represents the percentage of words that were correctly transcribed from your audio or video file.
It is obvious that a higher percentage is better. Select software that provides an accuracy of at least 85%.
Obviously, this is also a factor that can affect the choice of your automatic generator software.
Check for an Editor Dashboard
Whether you are transcribing or adding subtitles to video content, or transcribing audio files, you may find that, sometimes, some of the words generated by the software do not match the originals.
Usually, this occurs when audios or videos have distorted sound, low volumes, and unclear words or phrases.
In such a case, you may wish to have a chance to edit the transcription, since you likely know exactly what is being said in your content.
It is therefore important to check whether an automatic generator software includes an editor before choosing and paying for it.
In addition to ensuring the accuracy of the transcription, the editor may also offer customization options, such as the possibility to change the text color and size, edit the subtitle limit, and choose characters per line (CPL) and characters per second (CPS).
Check Out Languages It Supports
You may not only want to transcribe your content in its original language but also translate it into another language to ensure maximum accessibility.
If this is the case, then you must make sure that the automatic generator software supports various languages or specifically the ones that you need.
Check if Upload Limits
Depending on the software, the length and size of audio and video files you can upload may be limited.
If you need to transcribe or add subtitles to a large or long piece of content, you should take this into account when selecting the software to use.
In general, the fewer upload limitations there are, the better and more convenient it will be for you.
Look at Importing Options
Another thing to consider when choosing an automatic generator software is its import capabilities.
As a matter of fact, your audio or video file may be in a certain format, and it is crucial that the software supports it, so you do not have to spend time converting it to another format.
Consider Available Export Formats
Your audio or video content may need to be in a format that is supported by the platform where you intend to distribute it.
In this regard, it will be convenient for you to choose software that automatically exports the files in the format you require.
Therefore, before selecting the software, please make sure that it supports exportation in multiple formats. The more options it offers, the better.
Make Sure It Integrates Well with Other Apps
If you need to transcribe or add subtitles to your content faster and more easily, you may want to use other applications.
As such, when looking for automatic generator software, it is vital to ensure it can integrate with other popular apps. For example, you might want to integrate YouTube for importing and sharing videos directly.
Therefore, ensure the software you choose integrates seamlessly with all of the applications you intend to use.
Ensure it Allows Easy Sharing
As soon as the transcription or subtitles of your audio or video file are ready, you may want to share it directly from the platform of the production, in order to make the sharing as quick and easy as possible.
You may also wish to share the content with the rest of your team so you can collaborate on it.
Thus, ensure that the automatic generator software you choose includes easy collaboration and sharing features.
Wrapping up
By using an automatic generator software, you can save the time and effort you’d otherwise spend transcribing audio and adding subtitles to videos.
As more and more people are using automatic generator software, more options are available on the market, making it difficult to choose one.
Nevertheless, the tips provided in this post will certainly help you make an informed choice that will help you achieve your goals.
If you want to read more about AI, please check out this article on how AI can help you succeed in business writing.