Video Caption Generation and Interactive Rolling Transcripts for Canvas | Feature Overview

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Release Timing: Generally Available on April 18, 2026 as a Feature Option
Regional Availability: Globally Supported
Customer Type: All Customers
Available with: Canvas

Key Takeaway: Canvas users can now request generated captions for videos created in Canvas’ Rich Content Editor (RCE). Searchable and navigable transcripts are also available, allowing students to more easily review and engage with video content.

Educators commonly rely on video to deliver course content, explanations, and updates in Canvas. However, creating accessible video typically requires additional tools or manual workflows to generate captions, making it harder for instructors to consistently provide accessible video experiences and for institutions to meet accessibility standards.

Canvas now includes video caption generation directly within the core video workflow. Educators who create videos in Canvas can request and receive generated captions without needing external tools or additional steps, helping institutions more easily support accessibility standards such as ADA and WCAG.

For learners, captions also enhance how students engage with video content. With Interactive Rolling Transcripts, students can search and navigate video captions to quickly find key moments, review specific topics, and follow along in ways that support different learning preferences and improve comprehension.

Administrative Highlights:

Enablement – “Video Caption Generation” feature option
- This feature option controls both Caption Generation and the Interactive Rolling Transcript
Default State – off and unlocked by default
Configuration Availability – root account

Video Walkthrough:

https://productmarketing.instructuremedia.com/embed/32388c5a-580c-40f0-85a2-6b4042ddcccb

Shareable link

Resources:

Release Notes - April 18, 2026

FAQ

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Comments

RaeJobst-GU

This new functionality looks useful and will greatly improve accessibility of video in Canvas.

I am wondering if this option will be included when recording media comments in SpeedGrader?

Cheers

EmilyPector

This looks great! I see that I can also create transcripts for MP3 files uploaded this way. But, I can't find an option for editing the audio file transcript if there are errors. There is no option to make the media player "Extra Large" for audio files, and there is no option to expand the way there is for videos. Is this something that's going to be added later? Or is it already there, and I'm just missing those settings? Thank you!

RobertGibson

@RaeJobst-GU we have the same question.

pinkows4

Hi! Can you tell me if this will be available to all Canvas users, or is it only available to schools that use Canvas Studio? Thanks!

d_j_corbin

@Anna Lindsay What AI technology is automatic caption generation based on? This is not documented in the release notes or FAQs, but am assuming it is AI. At our university the IT department has to evaluate and approve all AI functionality in our IT services, so this needs to be documented before we can do anything.

@RaeJobst-GU and @RobertGibson I am assuming that it is applicable wherever there is the Rich Content Editor, as it says in the FAQs and it's also available to students. But yeah, neither SpeedGrader nor New Quizzes are specifically mentioned in the FAQs so it would be nice to have this clarified.

In any case — I am very happy this functionality is coming to Canvas! It will greatly improve the accessibility of video content. Great job! :)

sbj

I'm excited about this feature, but in beta it is taking a very long time to process a 60 second test video. Is the "This may take up to 24 hours" that the message during processing really going to be standard for all videos?

Akos Farago

@RaeJobst-GU this option is not included in the media comments at the moment as it is not using the common Rich Content Editor component, but a lighter version of it. We’re keeping an eye on it for the future.

Akos Farago

@EmilyPector Thank you! We are aware of some audio player limitations and an improvement is already in active development for Canvas Studio videos that we will implement for Canvas media as well a bit later. You can use the free hand tool to expand the player for the time being.

I assume your comment about 'I can't find an option for editing the audio file transcript if there are errors' is originating from the lack of support for media player sizes — just expand the player to a larger size using the free hand tool and you'll see the Transcript option showing up similarly to videos.

Akos Farago

@pinkows4 this is going to be available for all media to support everyone in their accessibility compliance, not limited to those using Canvas Studio.

Akos Farago

@d_j_corbin we are using the same implementation for captioning Canvas media as what we've been using with Studio for the past several years. It is not a new AI solution.

On New Quizzes, a known issue will be registered soon with a workaround here. We are supporting the exact same behaviour for media added in New Quizzes however, a feature option (Quizzes Canvas Native Integration) needs to be enabled for that.

Akos Farago

@sbj while this timeframe is standard irrespective of the video length, it also allows us to maintain a consistent service level as we scale to process tens of millions of videos annually. In practice, most captions will be completed much faster.

We have a monitoring dashboard to actively track the average generation time but that's not something we can predict that much in advance at the moment. It is going to be exciting how the average plays out after captioning a few million videos and we may be formally reduce that number.

dbrace

Hi @Akos Farago,

When you replied back to @d_j_corbin, you linked to "page 2" of the "Open" known issues.

Is there a specific known issue that you can link to for both now and in the future?

-Doug