You may have heard of, or been asked to conform Subtitles into Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH), or conform Same Language Subtitles (SLS) into Closed Captions (CC) or vice versa. To correctly conform your files, you need to know the characteristics of each.

So, what’s the difference between CC vs Subtitles vs SDH vs SLS?

CC are a full transcript of what is being said and they include captions for plot pertinent noises, sound effects, music and character ID’s where necessary (as it is assumed the audience cannot hear the audio in the video).

Subtitles are intended for audience members who do not speak the language in the video to enjoy foreign content by providing an on-screen text translation.

SDH are a sort of combination of the two previous types. SDH are intended for viewers who do not speak the language in the video and are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

More recently, SLS evolved. They are a full transcript of what is being said in the video. They don’t include any captions as they assume the audience can hear the audio. SLS files are often ideal for corporate and educational content as well as being created as Timed English Templates for the purpose of subtitling into multiple languages.

Conforming subtitles into SDH:

1. Add all the relevant SFX (sound descriptions and music) and character ID’s
2. Edit the text to adhere to the character limits – for SDH – 42 characters per line
3. Adjust in and out cues where necessary in order to adhere to the reading speed specified by your client

Conforming SDH into subtitles:

1. Delete all the SFX (sound descriptions and music) and character ID’s
2. Edit the text to adhere to the character limit – for subtitling, generally 39 characters per line is the norm
3. Adjust in and out cues where necessary in order to adhere to the reading speed specified by your client

Conforming SLS into CC:

1. Add all the relevant SFX (sound descriptions and music) and character ID’s
2. Edit the text to adhere to the character limit – for CC – 32 characters per line
3. Adjust in and out cues where necessary

Conforming CC into SLS:

1. Delete all the SFX (sound descriptions and music) and character ID’s
2. Edit the text to adhere to the character limits – for SLS, generally 39 characters per line is the norm
3. Adjust in and out cues where necessary
4. If all the text is in upper case, you would need to change it to mixed case.

This is a general guideline on how to conform audio-visual files. Always keep in mind the specifications provided by your client. For example, if you are conforming to SDH or CC, it is important to check the style guide regarding brackets (round or square) as well as specifications such as character limits, reading speed, line treatment and positional data.

I hope you have found this article useful 😊

About the author:

Kelly O’Donovan is the creator of GoSub.tv – An Education in the Art of Subtitling.

GoSub.tv specializes in the online training of subtitling, closed captioning and SDH.

She is also the creator of Jobs.GoSub.tv – A new online directory connecting qualified subtitlers and captioners with agencies and jobs.