Add chapters and captions to a video

Enhance the engagement and accessibility of a video with chapters and captions (subtitles). This guide will show you how to add chapters and subtitles to a WordPress video.

In this video, you’ll learn how to add chapters and captions to a VideoPress video on your WordPress.com site. It covers adding chapters by entering timestamps in the block settings, and adding captions or subtitles by uploading a VTT text track or using an auto-generated one.

Once you upload a video, you can add chapters. Chapters offer a quick way to navigate longer videos and can be an excellent addition for your viewers. Chapters will display next to the timer in the lower-left corner of the video player, with a clickable option to navigate between chapters:

To add chapters to a video you have inserted into a page or post, follow these steps:

1. In the WordPress editor, click on the Video or VideoPress block where the video comes from.
2. View the block settings on the right side.

3. In the Details section, locate the Description box.
4. Add a list of timestamps and titles into the description using the following guidelines (an example is shown in the image below):
   • Write the timestamp followed by the name of the chapter.
   • Make sure that the first timestamp starts at 00:00.
   • Add at least three chapter entries and as many as you need.
   • Add your chapter entries in consecutive order, with at least 10-second intervals between each.
5. Click the Save button in the top-right corner of the editor to save your changes.

You can later adjust the timestamps and chapter names as required in the Description field.

You can also add video chapters to a video via your site’s Media by following these steps:

1. In your site’s dashboard, navigate to Media.
2. Click on a video, then click the “Edit video details” button.
3. Look for the Description box.
4. In the description box, add a list of timestamps and titles into the description using the following guidelines (an example is shown in the image above):
   • Write the timestamp followed by the name of the chapter.
   • Make sure that the first timestamp starts at 00:00.
   • Add at least three chapter entries and as many as you need.
   • Add your chapter entries in consecutive order, with at least 10-second intervals between each.
5. Click the Done or Save button to save your changes.

If you want to completely remove the video chapters, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the page, post, or template where the video is embedded.
2. Click the video in the editor.
3. Click the “Text Tracks” icon in the block’s toolbar:

4. Click the Delete link next to the chapters.

You can add a VTT text tracks file (used for subtitles/ captions) to help with the accessibility and engagement of your video. To add a text track:

1. Create a .vtt formatted text file.
2. Click the “Text Tracks” icon in the Video or VideoPress block’s toolbar:

3. Upload your .vtt file. It will then ask you for the Label, Source language, and Kind:
   • Label: This is the title of the track that will be displayed within the video’s user interface.
   • Source language: Choose a valid BCP 47 language tag for the language used in the text track. You can add multiple languages and choose a default language.
   • Kind: This can be subtitles, captions, descriptions, chapters, or metadata:
     • Subtitles are translations of the dialogue in the video when audio is available but not understood.
     • Captions are a transcription of the dialogue, sound effects, musical cues, and other audio information in the video. These are useful when the viewer is deaf/hard of hearing or the video is muted.
     • Descriptions of what’s happening in the video for when the video portion isn’t available because the viewer is visually impaired, not using a screen, or driving. Descriptions are read by a screen reader or turned into a separate audio track.
     • Chapters are used to create navigation within the video. The viewer will see a list of chapters and can click on one to go to a specific chapter.
     • Metadata is for JavaScript to parse and do something with. These aren’t shown to the user.
4. Click on “Save” to add the track to the video.
5. Preview your post, and the subtitles option will be available in the video player.

Viewers can use the Captions Settings option in the video player to turn captions on or off and change to other available languages:

To remove a subtitle track from a video that already has one:

1. In the WordPress editor, click the Video or VideoPress block.
2. Click the “Text Tracks” icon in the block’s toolbar.
3. Click the Delete link next to the subtitle track you want to remove.

VideoPress automatically generates subtitles for new video uploads. You can turn this off for your whole site or remove the subtitles from an individual video. Turning the setting off does not affect subtitles on videos you already uploaded.

This section of the guide applies to sites with the WordPress.com Business and Commerce plan. If you have a Business plan, make sure to activate it. For free sites and sites on the Personal and Premium plans, upgrade your plan to access this feature.

To stop VideoPress from generating subtitles for new uploads:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Jetpack → VideoPress, then click the Settings tab.
3. Turn off “Automatically generate subtitles for new videos.”