Use Otter.ai to Auto-Caption Training Videos

What This Does

Otter.ai transcribes your training video's audio into a timestamped caption file (SRT format) that you can import into Articulate, your LMS, or any video player, achieving accessibility compliance in minutes instead of the hours it takes to caption manually.

Before You Start

• Free or Pro Otter.ai account at otter.ai
• Training video file (MP4, MOV, or M4A audio) or video URL ready
• Access to your LMS or Articulate to import the caption file
• Time needed: 10–15 minutes for a 10-minute video
• Cost: Free tier (300 min/month) / $17/mo Pro

Steps

1. Import your video to Otter.ai

Go to otter.ai → click "Import audio or video" (the upload icon in the top navigation bar). Click "Upload" and select your training video file from your computer.

Supported formats: MP4, MOV, M4A, MP3, WAV, and others.

What you should see: Your video appears in your Otter.ai conversation list with a "Transcribing" status. A 10-minute video typically takes 3–5 minutes to process.

Troubleshooting: If your file is too large for upload, use a file compressor or upload to YouTube (unlisted) and import via URL instead.

2. Review and edit the transcript

Once transcription is complete, click the conversation to open it. Read through the transcript against your video. Look for:

• Proper nouns (names, company terms, product names): often misheard
• Acronyms: Otter spells these out phonetically; correct them manually
• Technical terms specific to your industry

Click any word in the transcript to edit it. Changes update the caption file automatically.

What you should see: About 90–95% accuracy for clear audio. Accuracy drops in noisy environments or with heavy accents.

3. Export the SRT caption file

Click Export (the download icon) → select "SRT" format. This is the universal subtitle file format accepted by virtually every LMS, video platform, and Articulate.

What you should see: A file like your-video-name.srt downloads to your computer.

4. Import captions into Articulate or your LMS

For Articulate Rise: Open your Rise course → click the video block → click the gear icon (settings) → look for "Captions" or "Subtitles" → upload your .srt file.

For Articulate Storyline: Insert your video onto a slide → right-click the video → "Edit Video" → "Captions" tab → Import → select your .srt file.

For most LMS platforms (Cornerstone, Docebo, 360Learning): Upload the video through the LMS video upload tool. Most platforms have a "Captions/Subtitles" field where you attach the SRT file alongside the video.

What you should see: Captions appear in the video player when you preview the course.

5. Test caption accuracy

Preview your course and watch the first 2 minutes with captions enabled. Check that timing is synchronized and critical terminology is accurate. If you edited the Otter transcript in Step 2, the SRT should reflect your corrections.

Real Example

Scenario: You've recorded a 12-minute screen-capture walkthrough of your company's new expense reporting system for a mandatory onboarding course. You need captions for ADA compliance before publishing.

What you do: Upload the video to Otter.ai. Review the 12-minute transcript (about 8 minutes of reading). Fix 4 instances where Otter misheard "Concur" as "conquer." Export SRT. Import into Articulate Storyline via the captions tab. Preview and confirm sync. Publish.

What you get: Fully captioned accessibility-compliant training video in under 20 minutes. Manual captioning would have taken 2–3 hours.

Tips

• Record narration clearly and at a moderate pace. Otter's accuracy improves significantly with clear diction.
• For videos with multiple speakers (like recorded panel discussions), Otter's speaker detection helps you confirm who said what before exporting
• Keep your SRT files organized in a "Captions" folder next to your video source files. You'll need them whenever you update the video.

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