Introduction
Verbit captioning is replacing Panopto's automatic machine captions for Lecture Capture (Panopto) recordings, starting the evening of Monday, November 23, 2026. Verbit combines speech recognition technology with human review to produce more accurate captions, and it's free for all Panopto Creators. You'll still request and view captions inside Panopto, just like you do today. This article explains what's changing, what's staying the same, and what you need to do.
Information
Key Dates
- Monday, November 23, after 6:15 PM: Verbit captioning becomes available in Panopto, and new automatic caption requests can no longer be placed.
- Tuesday, November 24: First full workday with Verbit captioning.
What's Changing
- You'll no longer be able to request Panopto automatic machine captions for recordings.
- Verbit captions will be available from the Captions menu in Panopto as Enterprise Standard (Verbit Standard).
- Verbit captioning is free for all Panopto Creators.
- Verbit targets accuracy of up to 99% and handles complex scientific and technical terms much better than automatic captions.
How Verbit Compares to Automatic Captions
Comparison of Panopto automatic captions and Verbit captions
| Feature |
Panopto Automatic Captions |
Verbit Captions |
| How they're made |
Computer speech recognition only |
Speech recognition plus human review |
| Accuracy |
Varies, especially with poor audio, accented speech, or technical terms. Usually needs manual editing. |
Targets accuracy of up to 99%, including complex scientific terms |
| Cost |
Free |
Free |
| Where to request |
Panopto Captions menu |
Panopto Captions menu |
| When ready |
Shortly after upload |
About 24 to 48 hours |
What Stays the Same
- Captions already on your older recordings will stay in place.
- You'll still request captions from inside Panopto, either for one recording or for a whole folder.
- When captions are ready, viewers turn them on with the CC button in the Panopto player.
- Paid human captioning and its request process are not changing at this time. For details, see [CONFIRM: title and link of the paid captioning article].
- How Zoom transcripts are handled in Panopto is not changing.
What You Need to Do
- Before November 23: No action is needed.
- For new recordings: Request Verbit captions for each recording, or turn on automatic Verbit captioning for your folders. Folder-level captioning is not turned on for you; each Creator needs to opt in.
- For older recordings: If you'd like more accurate captions on an existing recording, you can request Verbit captions for it.
- Step-by-step instructions are available in this How To Article.
Note: Folder-level captioning does not carry down to subfolders. Turn it on for each subfolder you want captioned.
Accessibility and Compliance
The University's Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Policy (opens in a new tab) requires video captions to be 99% accurate. Verbit's captioning is designed to support ADA, Section 508, and WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines. Compliance still depends on the accuracy of the captions and how your content is used and published, so we recommend reviewing your captions before sharing recordings.
Need Help?
If you have questions about captioning your Panopto recordings, contact the Pitt Digital.