macOS · Accessibility
Customize closed captions and subtitles
Captions settings control how closed captions and subtitles appear across macOS, including text style, background, and size, and let you require captions whenever available in supported media.
How to open Captions
- Open System Settings → Accessibility → Captions
- Adjust Style options including font, size, and background
- Use the preview text to check readability
- Toggle 'Prefer closed captions and SDH' if desired
What you should know
- Style options for font, size, color, background, and edge style
- Preview pane shows live sample text as you adjust styling
- Option to prefer closed captions and SDH over standard subtitles
- Applies system-wide across apps like TV, Podcasts, and QuickTime Player that use system caption rendering
Why it matters
Legible captions matter for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, but also for anyone watching video in a noisy space, a quiet office, or a language they are still learning. Because caption preferences live at the system level, they carry consistently across apps rather than needing to be reconfigured in every video player, which reduces friction and makes captioned content genuinely usable rather than a fallback.
Best practices
- Increase font size and add a background box for better readability on smaller displays
- Turn on 'Prefer closed captions and SDH' if you want captions to include non-speech sound cues
- Test caption styling using the built-in preview before watching long-form content
- Use a high-contrast caption style if you also use Increase Contrast elsewhere in Accessibility
Common problems and fixes
- Captions do not appear in a video app
- Confirm the content actually includes a caption track, and enable captions from that app's own playback controls in addition to system settings.
- Caption text is hard to read over bright video
- Increase the background opacity or switch to a solid background style in Captions settings.
- Caption style changes do not apply
- Quit and reopen the video app after changing caption style, since some apps cache the previous style on launch.
Tips and tricks
- Choose a semi-transparent background if you find solid black boxes too distracting over video.
- Larger caption text pairs well with a Mac connected to a TV or projector at a distance.
Frequently asked questions
Do these settings turn captions on for every video automatically?
No, they only style captions; you still need to enable captions within each piece of content that offers them, unless the app respects a system-wide always-on preference.
Can I set different styles for different apps?
No, caption styling is a single system-wide preference applied wherever macOS renders captions.
Is this the same as VoiceOver captions?
No, this controls media captions and subtitles, not VoiceOver's spoken output.
Related settings
- Accessibility SettingsAccessibility settings on Mac include VoiceOver screen reading, Zoom for magnification, Voice Control, and many vision, hearing, and mobility features to make macOS easier to use.
- Sound RecognitionSound Recognition uses on-device listening to detect sounds such as a doorbell, smoke alarm, or crying baby, and shows a notification on screen so people who are deaf or hard of hearing do not miss them.
- ZoomZoom is macOS's built-in screen magnifier, letting you enlarge everything on the display using keyboard shortcuts, trackpad gestures, or the mouse scroll wheel, without needing a separate magnifying app. It works independently of display resolution settings.
More Accessibility guides for macOS
- Language & RegionLanguage & Region settings control which language macOS and your apps display in, plus regional formatting for dates, times, numbers, currency, and the calendar system used system-wide. You can also set different preferred languages per individual app.
- VoiceOverVoiceOver is macOS's built-in screen reader, describing aloud what's on screen — windows, buttons, text, and images — so you can use the entire Mac without seeing the display. It works through keyboard commands and gestures rather than a mouse.
- Voice ControlVoice Control lets you operate your entire Mac — clicking, typing, opening apps, and navigating menus — using only spoken commands, with all speech processing done on-device for privacy. It's built for people who can't use a traditional mouse and keyboard, but works for anyone who wants hands-free control.
- Switch ControlSwitch Control lets you operate your entire Mac using one or more adaptive switches, a game controller, or the keyboard instead of a mouse and trackpad, by scanning through onscreen items and selecting with a button press.
- Display AccommodationsDisplay Accommodations groups visual comfort settings such as Reduce Motion, Increase Contrast, Differentiate Without Color, and color filters, letting you tune how the interface renders for visual comfort or color vision differences.
- Pointer ControlPointer Control provides accessibility-focused cursor options, including size and color customization, Dwell Control for click-free selection, and Head Pointer for hands-free cursor movement using the camera.