Zoom Is Making Automatic Closed Captioning Free to Everyone

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Zoom Is Making Automatic Closed Captioning Free to Everyone

It's a great step for accessibility when using the video conferencing tool. In a push to be more accessible, and move in line with competitors, Zoom has announced that automatic closed captioning will eventually be available to all of its users for free.

How Do Closed Captions Work on Zoom

Closed captions aren't a new feature for Zoom. Currently, any user can manually transcribe their meeting (or you can assign someone within the meeting to take the role), or use a third-party service. Paid Zoom members can make use of the live transcription service. However, Zoom notes that the accuracy of this feature depends on variables like background noise, clarity of the speaker's voice, and lexicons and dialects.

Automatic Closed Captions Will Be Free to All

As announced on the , automatic closed captioning will be available to all Zoom users by the fall of 2021. This means the feature will no longer be exclusive to paid accounts. According to Jen Hill, Zoom's Product Marketing Manager, this move has been made as part of the company's "commitment to connecting users across the world" and enhancing the features Zoom provides to make a platform that is accessible to everyone. Zoom's other accessibility features include screen reader support, keyboard shortcuts, font size adjustment, and more. Information about this can be found on . While automatic closed captioning isn't available to everyone right now, you can request early access by filling out a . Zoom expects a high volume of requests though, so no timeframe is given and access won't be immediate. Once you have filled out the form, and your access has been granted, you will get an email that explains how to enable the live caption feature. If you don't need urgent access, you can instead wait until fall 2021 when it will be available to everyone for free.

Do Other Video Conferencing Tools Support Live Captions

Zoom isn't the only video conferencing software that offers live captions. Skype, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams can all automatically transcribe your calls to various levels of success. While Zoom gained huge popularity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's hoping to have staying power. Making its live caption feature available to everyone is great for accessibility, but it also brings it inline with competitors to make Zoom an even more viable choice as the default go-to conferencing software for personal and business use.