Transcripts and captions can run into trouble in two main ways.
An automated transcript might come back blank, incomplete, or fail to generate.
A captions file you're uploading might encounter an error and fail.
This troubleshooting guide covers both.
Troubleshoot an automated transcript
If an automated transcript didn't generate, came back blank, or is missing words, follow the troubleshooting steps below. Most cases come down to the audio, the original file, or your Keywords glossary.
The transcript is blank or missing dialogue
Automated transcripts are generated from audible, spoken dialogue. A transcript will come back blank or nearly empty if:
The media has no spoken dialogue (music-only or silent media). This is expected—there's nothing to transcribe.
The audio is very quiet, muffled, or the dialogue is buried under background noise or music.
Play the media all the way through on its media manage page and confirm there's clear, audible speech.
The transcript is missing words or has errors
Automated transcripts are computer-generated at roughly 95% accuracy, so some misheard words are normal, especially with overlapping speakers or specialized terms.
Add tricky terms (acronyms, industry jargon, product names) to your Keywords glossary so they're recognized on future transcripts.
For a higher-accuracy result, order a Professional transcript (human-reviewed, 99% accuracy) from the transcript order modal.
The transcript failed to generate
If a transcript errors out or never appears, there are a few steps you can follow to troubleshoot:
Make sure the media has finished encoding. If the media can't be played yet, this means that it's still processing. Wait for encoding to finish, then order the transcript.
Check your Keywords glossary length. The glossary supports up to 100 words. If you're over that limit, the transcript request is rejected. Trim the list under 100 terms in your Account Settings, then order the transcript again.
Confirm the original file meets our export settings. A file that falls outside our recommended export settings can fail to transcribe. Re-export the file to match those settings and re-upload it.
Once you've addressed the issue, delete the failed transcript and order a new one:
On the media mange page, within the Transcript section, click the ellipsis.
Click "Delete" to remove the failed transcript, and confirm that you'd like to delete it in the popup modal.
After you've deleted the transcript, you'll see the option to generate a new one appear.
Note
Deleting a transcript cannot be undone.
If you've worked through all of the above and the transcript still won't generate, reach out to our Support team with a link to the affected media so we can take a closer look.
Troubleshooting captions uploads
Caption files require precise formatting and may fail to upload for various reasons. If your SRT or VTT file fails to upload, we'll display a descriptive error message in the Upload Transcript modal.
Note
While we accept both SRT and VTT files, VTT files will be converted to SRT upon uploading.
See this article for more details on uploading transcripts and captions.
SRT formatting
SRT stands for “SubRip Text", which is a basic subtitle format. SRT files can be created and edited using most text editors.
Tip
We recommend a maximum line length of 32–40 characters to prevent your captions from being cut off or wrapping to the next line.
An SRT file is comprised of four parts:
The number for each subtitle (begins with 1).
The beginning and ending times for each subtitle, formatted as
hours:minutes:seconds,milliseconds, and separated by-->. There should be one space between the starting time and the-->, and one space between the-->and the ending time.The subtitle text. This can be on one or more lines.
A line break before the start of the next subtitle.
An SRT file should be formatted similarly to the example below:
1
00:00:00,500 --> 00:00:03,840
You can add captions in any
language to your Wistia media.
2
00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:06,337
French, Spanish,
Japanese, Arabic.
3
00:00:06,337 --> 00:00:08,420
When your viewers click
the closed captions button
4
00:00:08,420 --> 00:00:10,711
on the player, they can choose
their preferred language
5
00:00:10,711 --> 00:00:11,800
from a drop-down menu.
6
00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:15,180
Croatian, Czech, Hungarian.
Even the smallest mistake or inconsistency can interfere with your SRT file. Read on for some common errors and how to fix them.
Common captions errors
Start time is after end time
Each timestamp must be listed in chronological order. The start time of the first timestamp in a line must not exceed the end time of the second timestamp, and vice versa.
Adjust your timestamps in a text editor before re-uploading to Wistia, or generate a new set of captions using the "Generate Transcript" option.
Invalid file type
We accept both SRT and VTT files, though VTT files will be converted to SRT format upon upload. Other file extensions, such as TXT, will fail to upload.
Missing or additional line breaks
Each set of line numbers, timestamps, and captions should be separated by a single line break. Incorrect spacing can cause uploads to fail. For example, line 15 in the file below has an extra space between the timestamp and the words below:
15
00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:46,140
But this building
doesn't completely
16
00:00:46,140 --> 00:00:47,980
represent how we work.
To correct this formatting, the first line break should be removed:
15
00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:46,140
But this building
doesn't completely
16
00:00:46,140 --> 00:00:47,980
represent how we work.
Invalid symbols
The start and end time of each timestamp should be separated by two hyphens and a right-facing bracket (-->). Ensure that these hyphens are not replaced by em-dashes (—).
Incorrect character encoding
To ensure that special characters are displayed correctly, your SRT file must be encoded in UTF-8. Caption files should not be encoded in other formats, such as UTF-16 or UTF-8 with a BOM.
Still having trouble? Reach out to our Support team for assistance.