TikTok’s caption feature is a really impressive one, because it listens to what you’ve said and generates captions for viewers to follow along with. But, sometimes, people see a reoccurring error message, why?
Autogenerated captions are a huge perk of more recent updates. They allow everyone to have the same experience when watching videos. Whether you’re hard of hearing, struggle with dialects or don’t have the same first language as the creator, subtitles might be a required option for you.
There are endless reasons why someone might need to follow along with the captions, and that’s why having them is a powerful tool, and one we regularly encourage creators to use when making their content. You should ensure your content is open to all.
However, sometimes, the auto-generated caption option doesn’t work. It can fail repeatedly, which can be incredibly frustrating. Most don’t want to manually type out everything they’ve said, especially if the video is a long one.
Why does TikTok fail to generate captions?
You might click on the caption button and keep seeing the same error message, that TikTok has failed to auto-generate your captions. If you’re seeing this, there are a few reasons as to why the platform cannot generate them.
🔇Audio quality: If your audio quality is poor, the caption tool won’t be able to detect what you’re saying clearly enough. Any background noise, or low volume will lead to TikTok being unable to generate subtitles. Unfortunately, this also includes heavy accents from time to time.
👴App version is old: If your version of the app is outdated it could cause bugs that have since been fixed. This could prevent auto-captions from working.
👾Glitches and app cache: Any bugs currently within the app can cause features to stop working. Likewise, cache files can change the way the app functions.
🎥Unsupported video: If you’re someone who pre-records their videos, the file type could be unsupported. It’s recommended to use MP4 (H.264).
🌍Global restrictions: Captions might not be an available feature in some regions.
🚫Setting restrictions: If captions are disabled within your device’s accessibility settings, they won’t work within TikTok’s app.
🐌Audio hasn’t finished processing: Sometimes the audio can take longer than expected to process. If you try adding auto-captions straight away, they may fail.
How to fix TikTok’s auto-generated captions
If TikTok is unable to generate your captions, and you’ve tried a few times, it might be worth trying a few fixes to see if there’s an issue with your content, or the app.
🔃Update your app: Keep the app running to the latest version.
🗑️Clear your cache: Head to Settings and privacy > Free up space > Clear cache.
▶️Restart your app: Close it, remove it from background apps and relaunch.
👐Check accessibility: Settings > Accessibility to see if captions are enabled.
⬆️Re-upload: If it’s a video recorded prior to TikTok, re-upload it choosing the correct language from More options.
