Mediasite: Manually Upload Captions to a Presentation

Overview

If you have a caption file, you can upload it manually through MyMediasite and apply it to a presentation. Mediasite accepts caption files in the following formats: WebVTT (.vtt), SubRip (.srt), DFXP (.dfxp), or TTML (.ttml). Common use cases include:

• Uploading captions generated from a Zoom recording or a third-party transcription service.
• Replacing inaccurate captions with a corrected caption file.
• Adding captions to a presentation that was recorded outside of Mediasite.
• Adding multiple caption files for different languages.

Before You Start

Before uploading captions, confirm that the following are true:

• The presentation you're captioning already exists in Mediasite
• You have editing rights to the presentation you're captioning.
• Your caption file is one of these supported file types: WebVTT (.vtt), SubRip (.srt), DFXP (.dfxp), or TTML (.ttml)
• Your caption file is downloaded locally to your device (e.g., not in the Zoom cloud, OneDrive)
• The timestamps and text within the caption file appear correctly.

Instructions

1. Log in to your MyMediasite account with your Villanova credentials: https://vums-web.villanova.edu/mediasite/mymediasite/

2. From your list of available video content, select the presentation you want to caption by single-clicking on its title.

3. After the presentation page loads, select Edit Details from the right-hand navigation bar. 

4. Scroll down the page, select the Delivery tab, then check the box for Audio Transcriptions.

5. Next, click the radio button for Manually Upload an Audio Caption File. Then, click the Select File(s) button to open a window where you can choose the caption file from your local device. After selecting your caption file, click the Open button.

6. If the caption language isn't set to "Automatic," use the Language dropdown menu provided to identify the language of your captions. Leaving this untouched may result in the error message pictured below on the right. 

7. When you have uploaded your caption file and (if applicable) identified the caption language, click the Save button in the lower right-hand corner of the page.

Verification

To preview your captions and confirm that they're working correctly, follow these steps:

1. Open the presentation link in a new browser window.

2. Click the play icon () in the center of the screen to start playing the presentation.

3. Enable captions using the Closed Captions () button and confirm that:

• Your captions appear during playback.
• Your captions synchronize correctly with the audio.
• Your captions display expected text and punctuation.

Known Issues & Troubleshooting

• "The caption file will not upload": Verify that your caption file is one of these supported file types: WebVTT (.vtt), SubRip (.srt), DFXP (.dfxp), or TTML (.ttml). Confirm that the file contains valid timestamp formatting. Note: Renaming a .txt file to .vtt or .srt does not convert it into a valid caption file.
• Captions Upload but Do Not Appear: If this occurs, be sure to confirm the following:
  • The presentation was saved after caption upload.
  • Captions are enabled in the Mediasite player using the Closed Caption () button.
  • The uploaded language track is selected.
  • The caption file contains timestamps that align with the presentation timeline.
• Captions Are Out of Sync: This commonly occurs when:
  • The caption file was created from a different version of the recording.
  • The recording was edited after captions were generated.
  • Introductory content was trimmed, changing the timing relationship between audio and captions.

If your captions are consistently offset, you may need to correct them using the Mediasite Caption Editor or regenerate them from the source recording. For more details, please see the article Mediasite: Edit Captions.

• "I need to delete a caption file I uploaded":  If you need to delete the caption file you uploaded, follow steps 1-4 above and click the trash icon () next to the caption file you want to remove.

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