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Are captions downloadable embedded in the MP4 container?

Hello, this is quite specific:

If I view a video on the Panopto site, captions are visible and indeed editable. If I download that video, captions do not appear to be there at all, is this correct?

  • I know they can be downloaded separately and am able to do this;
  • Moreover, separately downloaded captions do work fine if (a) I point the MP4 player where they are; or (b) I rename them to the same name as the video, and to .srt filetype, and place in the same folder.

However, that requires some specialist knowledge, and the captions don't seem to work out of the box for the uninitiated. However, my understanding was that .mp4 is a container filetype, and that the container was capable of containing the .srt captions.

Am I mistaken, or is this feature only available depending on level of subscription, or are they actually there and I am missing something basic when I say I can't get them to work?

Many thanks in anticipation.

Answers

  • The MP4 video podcast version that you download from Panopto should have the captions embedded into the MP4 container, but it will depend on the player that you are using in order to determine if/how those captions can be used. I know that VLC is capable of displaying the embedded caption tracks, and that is what I've used in the past for testing.

  • Thank you, helpful and prompt response! I dug deeper since it should work in theory, and since VLC is my default media player. I found examples of two videos, both of which display captions in Panopto, only the second does in VLC. Am wondering whether this is maybe not about Panopto at all, though I don't know what it is about!



  • Caitlin McCabeCaitlin McCabe Administrator

    Hi @Allan Norman,

    If you download a Panopto video with captions, the captions should appear in a player that recognizes caption tracks, like VLC. Because of the situation you've described, I'd like to submit a Support ticket on your behalf so that our team can investigate this.

    In order to open the ticket, please send me the links to your videos referenced above via direct message.

    Best wishes,

    Cait

  • Please pass on thanks to everyone concerned who got to the bottom of this, I can confirm now sorted.

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