ASL version

If you are DeafBlind or prefer to watch the video in a high contrast format, watch the DeafBlind friendlier ASL version instead. To adjust the video speed, use YouTube's playback speed tool.

English version

The Commission has routinely shared videos on a variety of topics, which are viewable on YouTube. Did you know that there are tools available to enhance your viewing experience? You can adjust caption size for readability as well as the font style and color options. Here’s how:

Adjusting Caption Size, Font, and Color:

You can adjust the way you see captions on YouTube. There are options to adjust the size, font, and color of the captions to meet your preference. Here are the steps to adjust the settings on YouTube:

Step 1: Go to any video on YouTube that has closed captions available.

Step 2: Click on the gear icon, which is next to the CC button, on the bottom right side of the video.

Step 3: Click on ‘Subtitles/CC’

Step 4: Click on ‘Options’ on the top, right corner of the pop-up box

Step 5: Make the changes you want. You can change the type of font, the font size, the font color, the background color, etc., until the CC looks the way that is best for you. A sample view is available to help you choose your best settings.

Now that you have adjusted your preferred settings to view captions, you can also adjust the speed that you view those videos at. You can slow them down or speed them up.

Adjusting Speed:

Step 1: Click on the gear icon (right next to the CC button at the bottom right side of the video)

Step 2: Click on ‘Playback Speed,” second item from top of dropdown list

Step 3: Choose your favorite speed. Slow speeds are .25 (slowest), 0.5 (medium slow), and 075 (slightly slow). “Normal” is the original speed. If you would like the video to go faster, the fast speeds are 1.25 (slightly fast), 1.5 (medium fast), 1.75 (fast), and 2.0 (fastest).

If it is too hard to find the gear icon, you can use YouTube’s keyboard shortcuts to increase or decrease the speed by 25%. Here are the shortcuts.

To slow down video speed: Press the < key by holding down the Shift key and then press the comma key, which will decrease video speed by 25%.

To speed up video speed: Press the > key by holding down the Shift key and then press the period key, which will increase speed by 25%.

Now you can watch any video at the speed that you are comfortable with. We hope these tools will enhance your viewing experience!

Credits

The Minnesota Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind & Hard of Hearing thanks:

Nic Zapko for ASL talent.

Daria Goede for voiceover.

Keystone Interpreting Solutions for film production.