You will then see a new pop-up box to confirm that the extension is active. There may be several options here, but you will need to select Set as Overlay 1. Under the Closed Captioner extension, click Activate. There you will see your installed and activated extensions. On the top left of your dashboard, click the My Extensions tab. Once you’ve clicked that, a window will open instructing you to enable the extension as a Video Overlay. To activate through extensions, click the Add button next to the extension to add it to your extensions library.

Twitch also offers closed captioning, which can be utilized via its creator dashboard system or through extensions. These panels allow users to get the full context of what the streamer has written without being confused on where to find their social media profiles and other links. All of this is essential to making sure that your audience can know who you are. To take advantage of this, users can write descriptive text, also known as alt text, via panels describing the color of the text, what font is used, how visible the background can be. To start, for visually impaired viewers and people with learning disabilities like dyslexia, Twitch has resources that allow streamers to make their “About” section work well with screen readers. In this explainer, I’ll go through captioning tools, subtitles to complement captioning, and screen reader accessibility instructions. Prices start at US$4.17 (about £3/AU$5) per month for a 36-month license, through to US$199 (about £150/AU$250) for a lifetime license.Over the years, streaming platforms and tools have made it easier than ever to create streams accessible to everyone.

You'll also have to open your wallet if you want chromakeying (green screen), in-game Twitch chat, console support via a capture card and custom logos. The biggest drawback is that streams at 720p or higher will carry an Xsplit watermark – not ideal if you want your stream to look professional. It supports streaming to Twitch, Mixer, YouTube and Facebook, and is incredibly easy to use – just start your game and hit a keyboard shortcut to bring up the overlay and begin streaming. Gamecaster is a game-specific version of Xsplit Broadcaster, with a more streamlined interface. As such, it looks sleeker and benefits from premium support online, but several features are locked behind a paywall. Unlike most of the free streaming software in this roundup, Xsplit Gamecaster is a free, cut-down version of a premium application.

Twitch streaming software comparison