How to enable closed captioning
When activated, closed captioning (abbreviated CC) displays the spoken elements, background noises, and sound effects of a movie or program as text on your TV screen. These captions provide an important connection to entertainment and news for individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Closed captions are also useful when dialogue is difficult to understand, or when the volume cannot be turned up too loud.
Closed captions are available only when the service provider (e.g., Netflix, The Roku Channel, or Hulu) includes them with their content. Check with the service provider for information about the availability of closed captions.
Turning closed captions on or off
Closed captions are not visible until activated. For some service providers, closed captions are activated from within the channel. The closed captioning settings available on your Roku® streaming device have no effect on the content from these service providers. See a list of a few common channels at the bottom of this article.
For many channels, closed captions can be activated from the settings of your Roku device.
- Press Home
on your Roku remote - Scroll and select Settings
- To open the Captions menu, select Accessibility. If Accessibility is not listed, select Captions.
- Select Captions mode and choose when captions appear
- Off – captions never appear
- On always – captions always appear (when available from the service provider). When service providers use their own settings, closed captions are activated within their channel.
- On replay – captions appear only after pressing Replay
on your Roku remote (with content that supports instant replay) - On mute – captions appear only when volume is muted
- Note: The "On mute" selection is not available on all Roku devices.
Customizing closed captions
For channels that use the closed captioning settings available on your Roku device, there are three style elements that can be customized – text, background and window.
- Press Home on your Roku remote
- Scroll and select Settings
- To open the Style menu, select Accessibility and then Caption style. If Accessibility is not listed, select Captions.
- Adjust each style element. A preview appears with an example of the changes.
- Text – style (font) / edge effect / size / color / opacity
- Background – color / opacity
- Window – color / opacity
Using closed captions during playback
For channels that use the closed captioning settings available on your Roku device, closed captions can often be turned on or off during playback.
- Note: Not all channels make this feature available.
- After playback begins, press Star
on your Roku remote to open the Options menu - Scroll and select Closed captioning.
- Choose when captions appear
- Off – captions never appear
- On always – captions always appear (when available from the service provider). When service providers use their settings, closed captions are activated within their channel.
- On replay – captions appear only after pressing Replay on your Roku remote (with content that supports instant replay)
- On mute – captions appear only when volume is muted
- Note: The "On mute" selection is not available on all Roku devices.
When closed captions are turned on or off during playback, the setting is retained for future programs.
Closed captioning on specific channels
Below you can find links to instructions for activating and customizing closed captions on some common channels.
- Netflix: How to use subtitles, captions or alternate audio
- Hulu: Using closed captions and subtitles on Hulu
- Sling TV: Using closed captions
Other accessibility features
Screen reader: The screen reader is a text-to-speech feature that assists with navigation of the Roku user interface and on-screen menus.
Headphone Mode: Headphone Mode allows you to listen via headphones using the Roku mobile app for iOS® and Android™.