Automatically generate subtitles for your lesson video
Subtitles are not a luxury but a requirement — for WCAG accessibility, for students without sound, and for those whose native language is not the spoken one. With modern automatic subtitling in Dutch, you no longer have to type them yourself. Below you'll find the workflow, quality expectations and best practices.
Subtitled in 5 steps
- 1
Upload your video
Open LectaMe Videostudio and upload the MP4, MOV or WebM source.
- 2
Start auto-subtitling
Click "Generate subtitles". The system analyses the audio and delivers a time-coded text track within 30-60 seconds.
- 3
Correct mistakes
Go through the track and adjust typos, names or technical jargon. For most lesson videos this is 5-10 minutes of work.
- 4
Set up the display
Choose font size, background contrast and position. The default is at the bottom, white text on a light black background — readable in most situations.
- 5
Place it in your presentation
Place the video as a slide element in your LectaMe presentation. Subtitles play along automatically and can be turned on/off by the participant.
Legal and didactic context
WCAG 2.2 level AA — the standard for public institutions and schools — requires synchronisable subtitles for all pre-recorded video with audio (criterion 1.2.2). Lighter rules apply to live video (criterion 1.2.4), but for lesson videos you keep afterwards, synchronous subtitling is the standard.
Didactic effect: research (Pastore & Ritzhaupt, 2015) shows that 75-80% of students regularly watch lesson videos without sound — on the train, in an open study area, or just before sleep. Subtitles make the video usable in those contexts, even without a formal accessibility requirement.
Frequently asked questions
Why are subtitles on lesson videos important?+
Three reasons. One: WCAG 2.2 level AA requires subtitles for video with audio — often mandatory for schools and public institutions. Two: 75% of students watch lesson videos without sound (on the train, in lectures, or in quiet surroundings). Three: for students with dyslexia, a hearing impairment or non-native speakers, subtitles make the video accessible.
How accurate is automatic subtitling in Dutch?+
For clear pronunciation and standard Dutch: 95%+ accurate with modern models such as Whisper. For accents, technical jargon (medical, legal) and background noise: 85-90%. Always expect to do corrections — automatic subtitling is no substitute for a human check, but it is a major time saver.
Open or closed captions?+
Closed captions are better in almost all cases. Students can turn them on/off themselves, and closed captions can be used by screen readers. Use open captions (burned into the video) only when you want to be sure everyone sees them — such as in social media snippets or auto-playing preview videos.
Should I transcribe the spoken text literally?+
For accessibility: yes, as literally as possible. You can leave out silences, hums and slips of the tongue, but don't summarise content. For speed-reading comfort: split short sentences at natural pauses, max 2 lines per chunk, max 42 characters per line.
Which automatic subtitling tools do you recommend?+
For education: LectaMe Videostudio (Dutch, EU hosting, automatically fine-tuned on educational content). For general use: YouTube Studio (free, reasonable Dutch accuracy), CapCut (TikTok focus, not GDPR-safe), Descript (English-first, US-hosted). For pro: Adobe Premiere with the Auto-Caption plugin.