How to choose a subtitling company for your video project?

*Post in collaboration with our partner Atenao.

Subtitles are a valuable addition to a video, and lie behind the success of streaming giants like Netflix or Amazon prime.

These two global companies have become among the most visited streaming platform thanks to their diverse catalog but also numerous subtitle languages which makes them accessible to a wide audience. 

So, you know subtitles will increase your online reach, but you're not sure which subtitle company to hire for your video project? We're here to help. 

How to choose the best subtitle company for your project?

Short subtitle projects : automatic subtitling company. 

If you are starting out with short and simple subtitled videos you should use automated AI service, where the advanced speech recognition API transcribes the sound of your video in sync with the images, supported by subtitle translation available in 140 languages. 

This benefit of this subtitling tool is that it is fast and free: in just 5 minutes, the script is generated and made available on our Checksub platform.

This software offers 85% accuracy, and you can carry out your own changes to fine-tune the final result, and then customise the appearance of your subtitles. 

It's a great way to get started before launching more complex projects.

Large-scale audiovisual projects : professional subtitling company

If your audio-visual project is complex, you'll need a professional service to make your subtitles readable and effective since subtitles are subject to certain limits: a maximum of 2 lines per frame, a maximum of 35 characters per line, and with a screen time of between 1 and 6 seconds.
Here are some examples of complex situations where a professional is strongly required: 

• When several speakers are talking at once, where the difficulty lies in both identifying what they all say and transcribing it within the subtitles' limits.
• When speech is completed by a voice-over;
• When background noises make speech difficult to hear and understand;
• When speakers hesitate, where it takes work to make their speech fluid and intelligible while keeping the sense of the sentence.

A recording studio with all the necessary software and know-how dedicated to subtitling, such as audio typing and velotyping, is used for the project. Thanks to this, the expert service saves time and money, so that your order can be completed within 24 hours and is available 24/7.

Multilingual project : video translation experts. 

Just like subtitling, translation is best carried out by an expert service.
While AI can create linguistically correct translations, our professional translators translate into their native language and can ensure the best translation of: 

• nuance;
• humour;
• proverbs;
• cultural references;
• social norms.

Using a multilingual audiovisual specialist also guarantees compliance with typographical rules of writing systems that don’t use the Latin alphabet, such as Chinese or Japanese (here is an example).

This "subtitles hall of shame made the need for professional translation for Netflix very clear.

All-in-one subtitling service : Checksub

As you can see, subtitling is a delicate and complex task.
This is why we can only recommend the expertise of our partners.

Their precision, coupled with our online editor, means you can trust us to carry out your project and you can finalise the result yourself by choosing the colour and font of your subtitles.

In our easy-to-use interface, all you have to do is upload your video with the subtitles already integrated or on a separate SRT file, in the source language and the target language. 

Whether you want to enhance promotional or corporate videos, instruction manuals, tutorials or online courses, we have a perfect solution for all your subtitling projects.