Tekstning

Tekstning is the process of adding text to audio-visual media to convey spoken dialogue, sound effects, and other auditory information. It is used for subtitles and captions and serves both translation and accessibility purposes. In many contexts, tekstning distinguishes between subtitling, which conveys spoken content in another language, and captions, which primarily aid viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing. Open captions are always visible, while closed captions can be turned on or off by the viewer.

Production and types: For pre-recorded content, tekstning involves transcription, translation when needed, timing, and text formatting to fit on-screen space. For live broadcasts, real-time captioning is produced by stenography or speech recognition with human correction. Teams may also label speakers and describe important non-speech elements within the captions to preserve context and meaning.

Technologies and formats: Text data is commonly stored in formats such as SRT, WebVTT, or ASS, which pair text with precise start and end times. Captioning is delivered via television, streaming services, or online players. Advances in automatic speech recognition have increased throughput, but human editors remain essential to ensure accuracy, punctuation, and readability.

Accessibility and standards: Teksting improves access for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences and can aid language learners and viewers in noisy environments. Quality criteria typically include accuracy, synchrony with dialogue, completeness, appropriate line breaks, and clear speaker identification. Many regions have regulations requiring captioning on broadcast or streaming content, with guidelines on timing, formatting, and coverage of non-speech information.

Current trends and challenges: Automation and AI enable faster production and multilingual subtitling, while the demand for live captioning grows with streaming platforms. Ongoing work focuses on improving latency, handling dialects, and ensuring consistent terminology and readability across languages.