Learn more about Social Media Accessibility and Captions and Videos.
All videos posted on social media after April 24, 2026 are required to have accurate captions.
We recommend using closed captions over open captions, when available. Auto-generated captions do not meet accessibility requirements without human-review.
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Closed captions are the most accessible option, but are not supported on every platform. Closed captions are typically uploaded as a .srt file.
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More flexibility for the user: Users can choose to turn captions on or off.
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Easier to fix: If you find a typo, you can edit the caption file instead of recreating the video.
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Open Captions are "burned" into the video during the editing process. Open captions do not depend on platform support.
Make sure your open captions meet color contrast requirements - white text on a black background is a great choice.
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Less flexibility for the user: Users can't turn the captions off.
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Harder to fix: If you find a typo, you will have to edit the original video to fix your captions.
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Auto-generated captions are provided by some platforms. Auto-generated captions must be human-reviewed and edited to ensure accuracy and accessibility compliance.
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Make sure to fix errors, and add punctuation and capitalization.
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What must my captions have?
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All spoken words. Do not paraphrase. Captions need to accurately reflect the audio content. Be sure to use correct spelling, punctuation and capitalization.
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Speaker identification. Each time someone speaks, clearly show who it is.
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Important non-dialogue sounds. This includes intro music and critical background noise.
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Synchronized audio. Your captions must be timed to appear and disappear in sync with your video's sound and dialogue.
Learn more about Video Captions Basics
Caption Support for Specific Platforms
Last updated: March 16, 2026
|
Social Media Platform and Post Type |
Closed Captions(Recommended) |
Open Captions |
Auto-Generated Captions (Requires human-review) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Instagram Post |
Not supported |
Supported |
Available |
|
Instagram Reels |
Not supported |
Supported |
Available |
|
Instagram Stories |
Not supported |
Supported |
Available |
|
Facebook Reels |
Supported |
Supported |
Available |
|
Facebook Story |
Not supported |
Supported |
Available |
|
TikTok |
Not supported |
Supported |
Available |
|
X Video |
Supported |
Supported |
Not available |
|
Threads |
Not supported |
Supported |
Not available |
|
BlueSky |
Supported (.vtt) |
Supported |
Not available |
|
LinkedIn Video |
Supported |
Supported |
Available |
|
YouTube Video |
Supported |
Supported |
Available |
|
YouTube Shorts |
Supported |
Supported |
Available |