<p>I tried this just a short while ago, and YouTube supports interleaving captions! You can even jumble the captions around in time. So the first caption could be the last one showing up in the video.</p>

<p>Just specify the starting time and the end time on all of the captions and they will show up during the time you specified.</p>

<p>Have a good time captioning! :)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-02T17:23:26.507Z
Do you have a link where I can see your (or any) sample?  I'd really like to see how it is rendered 'live'.
Andrew Thompson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-02T17:27:59.580Z
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N26vTecsE7Y
Friend of Kim
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-02T17:28:28.097Z
There I've added some examples. Sorry for the lame video behind.. xD
Friend of Kim
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-02T17:29:41.730Z
The captions are at 1:23 and from 2:10.
Friend of Kim
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-02T17:38:12.217Z
On the second one around 2:10 it will show (call it) Caption 1. Caption 2 will start right after Caption 1. Caption 2 will also stop right before Caption 1 stops. A Caption 3 also starts inside Caption 1. This (Caption 3) however will stop before Caption 1.
Friend of Kim
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-02T17:44:16.687Z
And you can of course change the way the captions look by clicking the CC icon on the video and choose Settings.
Friend of Kim
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-02T17:46:33.530Z
That is *perfect,* thank you!  I'll study it a bit more closely, but it seems to be the best way of interleaving captions that I could imagine (short of *scrolling* them upwards, rather than just pushing them upwards).  I've marked the answer correct, but cannot award the bounty for 22 hrs.
Andrew Thompson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-02T17:19:34.293Z
2012-03-02T17:19:34.293Z
Friend of Kim
<p>I am looking to develop a tool for editing Closed Captions for MP3s.  It is mostly in support of YouTube music videos.  I've been looking over the <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/youtube/2.0/developers_guide_protocol_captions.html#Supported_Caption_File_Formats" rel="nofollow">Supported Caption File Formats</a> in this YouTube page and the example they show is:</p>

<pre><code>0:01:23.000,0:01:25.000
This text displays for two seconds starting
1 minute and 23 seconds into the video.

0:02:20.250,0:02:23.8
This text displays from 2 minutes and 20.25 seconds after the start
of the video until 2 minutes and 23.8 seconds after the start of the video.

0:03:14.159
This text displays beginning 3 minutes and 14.159 seconds
after the start of the video for an undefined length of time. 
</code></pre>

<p>It seems clear enough there, with the first line being start,end time, the blank line being a delimiter, and the rest indicating text and line breaks.  The last 'time' entry indicates a start time but no explicit end time - it is up to the software to define how to render it (any examples my software makes, will have an explicit start &amp; end time).  That is basically what is shown in the SubViewer (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SubViewer - link broken to reduce 3 links to maximum of 2) example at Wikipedia.</p>

<p>What neither page makes clear is whether the captions could effectively <em>overlap.</em>  E.G. a busy meeting, or songs with lead and back-up vocals.  An example of the latter is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_timedtext?video_id=a_-hARpkSuE&amp;feature=vm" rel="nofollow">Johnny O'Keefe's - She's My Baby</a>.</p>

<p>The BG vocals start </p>

<pre><code>1. Bom, bom, bom, BOM..
</code></pre>

<p>Continue that with 2 &amp; 3 (when you're on a good 'bom', roll with it..)</p>

<p>Then JO'K cuts in with ..</p>

<pre><code>4a.                Short black hair..
4b. Bom, bom, bom, BOM..
</code></pre>

<p>Does the format specify/expect that all captions will be non-overlapping periods of time, like lines 1-3, or does it also support 'interleaved' text as with lines 4 a/b? </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-02T16:44:26.023Z
Could come kind soul add the [tag:file-formats] & (does not exit yet) closed-caption tags to this post for me?  If I go to edit it, I get informed it can only have two links (low rep.), and I'd prefer to keep all 3.
Andrew Thompson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-03T09:51:46.360Z
OK - reduced the 3 links to 2 in order to edit, but users with <150 rep. cannot create new tags.  I think 1) `closed-caption` should be a new tag for this SE site 2) it should be added to this post.  If you have the rep. & agree, please edit.
Andrew Thompson
<file-formats>
Closed Caption formats - support for overlapping phrases
Andrew Thompson
# Closed Caption formats - support for overlapping phrases

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-02-27)

I am looking to develop a tool for editing Closed Captions for MP3s.  It is mostly in support of YouTube music videos.  I've been looking over the Supported Caption File Formats in this YouTube page and the example they show is:
0:01:23.000,0:01:25.000
This text displays for two seconds starting
1 minute and 23 seconds into the video.

0:02:20.250,0:02:23.8
This text displays from 2 minutes and 20.25 seconds after the start
of the video until 2 minutes and 23.8 seconds after the start of the video.

0:03:14.159
This text displays beginning 3 minutes and 14.159 seconds
after the start of the video for an undefined length of time. 

It seems clear enough there, with the first line being start,end time, the blank line being a delimiter, and the rest indicating text and line breaks.  The last 'time' entry indicates a start time but no explicit end time - it is up to the software to define how to render it (any examples my software makes, will have an explicit start & end time).  That is basically what is shown in the SubViewer (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SubViewer - link broken to reduce 3 links to maximum of 2) example at Wikipedia.
What neither page makes clear is whether the captions could effectively overlap.  E.G. a busy meeting, or songs with lead and back-up vocals.  An example of the latter is Johnny O'Keefe's - She's My Baby.
The BG vocals start 
1. Bom, bom, bom, BOM..

Continue that with 2 & 3 (when you're on a good 'bom', roll with it..)
Then JO'K cuts in with ..
4a.                Short black hair..
4b. Bom, bom, bom, BOM..

Does the format specify/expect that all captions will be non-overlapping periods of time, like lines 1-3, or does it also support 'interleaved' text as with lines 4 a/b?

**Tags:** file-formats

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Could come kind soul add the [tag:file-formats] & (does not exit yet) closed-caption tags to this post for me?  If I go to edit it, I get informed it can only have two links (low rep.), and I'd prefer to keep all 3.  
> **username_0**: OK - reduced the 3 links to 2 in order to edit, but users with <150 rep. cannot create new tags.  I think 1) `closed-caption` should be a new tag for this SE site 2) it should be added to this post.  If you have the rep. & agree, please edit.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2012-03-02. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

I tried this just a short while ago, and YouTube supports interleaving captions! You can even jumble the captions around in time. So the first caption could be the last one showing up in the video.

Just specify the starting time and the end time on all of the captions and they will show up during the time you specified.

Have a good time captioning! :)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Do you have a link where I can see your (or any) sample?  I'd really like to see how it is rendered 'live'.  
> **username_1**: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N26vTecsE7Y  
> **username_1**: There I've added some examples. Sorry for the lame video behind.. xD  
> **username_1**: The captions are at 1:23 and from 2:10.  
> **username_1**: On the second one around 2:10 it will show (call it) Caption 1. Caption 2 will start right after Caption 1. Caption 2 will also stop right before Caption 1 stops. A Caption 3 also starts inside Caption 1. This (Caption 3) however will stop before Caption 1.  
> **username_1**: And you can of course change the way the captions look by clicking the CC icon on the video and choose Settings.  
> **username_0**: That is *perfect,* thank you!  I'll study it a bit more closely, but it seems to be the best way of interleaving captions that I could imagine (short of *scrolling* them upwards, rather than just pushing them upwards).  I've marked the answer correct, but cannot award the bounty for 22 hrs.  

---

