How to Customize Closed Captions in Windows 10

By Hally | Last Updated April 15, 2025

Closed captions are an essential feature for anyone who’s deaf, hard of hearing, or simply prefers reading dialogue in videos. Fortunately, Windows 10 lets you fully customize closed captions to match your visual and accessibility needs.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to change the font, background, and Windows content of closed captions in Windows 10 — all in just a few clicks.

How to Change Closed Caption Settings in Windows 10

Here’s a step-by-step guide to personalize how closed captions look on your screen.

Step 1: Click the Start menu, then select Settings (gear icon). Or press Windows + I on your keyboard to open Settings instantly.

Step 2: Go to Ease of Access.

Step 3: On the left pane, find and click Closed captions.

click closed captions

Step 4: Here, you’ll find multiple customization options: Change caption font, Change caption background, Dim window content. Besides, in Live Preview section, you’ll see a real-time preview of your changes at the top of the screen. This lets you test different combinations until you find what works best for you.

Change caption font:

Caption color: Pick from white, black, red, green, blue, yellow, etc.

set caption color

Caption transparency: choose from Opaque, Translucent, Semitransparent, Transparent.

set caption transparency

Caption style: Select from Mono serif, Proportional serif, Mono sans serif, Proportional sans serif, Casual, Cursive, Small caps.

set caption style

Caption size: set to 50%, 100%, 150%, or 200%.

set caption size

Caption effects: choose from Raised, Depressed, Uniform, Drop shadow.

set caption effect

Change caption background:

Caption background color: choose the color from White, Black, Red to Cyan.

set caption background color

Caption background transparency: choose from Opaque, Translucent, Semitransparent, Transparent.

set caption background transparency

Dim window content:

Windows Color: select from white, black, red, green, blue, yellow, etc.

set windows color

Windows transparency: select from Opaque, Translucent, Semitransparent, Transparent.

set window transparency

How to Restore Close Captions to Default Settings

Not happy with your changes? You can easily return to the original Windows caption style:

Step 1: Go to Settings > Ease of Access > Closed captions.

Step 2: Click a setting and choose Default in the drop-down list.

Additional Tips for Caption Use

These settings apply system-wide to any app that supports Windows captioning (such as Movies & TV, Windows Media Player, and some browser-based players).
Not all streaming platforms (like Netflix or YouTube) use system captions — they often have their own subtitle settings.
Custom captions may also appear in PowerPoint presentations and video calls depending on the software you use.

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