diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/video/display.coffee b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/video/display.coffee
index 3880091661..6587f05899 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/video/display.coffee
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/video/display.coffee
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ class @Video
     @parseSpeed()
     $("#video_#{@id}").data('video', this).addClass('video-load-complete')
 
+    @hide_captions = $.cookie('hide_captions') == 'true'
+
     if YT.Player
       @embed()
     else
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/video/display/video_caption.coffee b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/video/display/video_caption.coffee
index f65debb1a2..b1e41afc3c 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/video/display/video_caption.coffee
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/video/display/video_caption.coffee
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 class @VideoCaption extends Subview
   initialize: ->
-    @loaded = false  
+    @loaded = false
 
   bind: ->
     $(window).bind('resize', @resize)
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class @VideoCaption extends Subview
     @$('.subtitles').html(container.html())
     @$('.subtitles li[data-index]').click @seekPlayer
 
-    # prepend and append an empty <li> for cosmatic reason
+    # prepend and append an empty <li> for cosmetic reason
     @$('.subtitles').prepend($('<li class="spacing">').height(@topSpacingHeight()))
       .append($('<li class="spacing">').height(@bottomSpacingHeight()))
 
@@ -130,14 +130,21 @@ class @VideoCaption extends Subview
 
   toggle: (event) =>
     event.preventDefault()
-    if @el.hasClass('closed')
+    if @el.hasClass('closed') # Captions are "closed" e.g. turned off
+      @hideCaptions(false)
+    else # Captions are on
+      @hideCaptions(true)
+
+  hideCaptions: (hide_captions) =>
+    if hide_captions
+      @$('.hide-subtitles').attr('title', 'Turn on captions')
+      @el.addClass('closed')
+    else
       @$('.hide-subtitles').attr('title', 'Turn off captions')
       @el.removeClass('closed')
       @scrollCaption()
-    else
-      @$('.hide-subtitles').attr('title', 'Turn on captions')
-      @el.addClass('closed')
-
+    $.cookie('hide_captions', hide_captions, expires: 3650, path: '/')
+ 
   captionHeight: ->
     if @el.hasClass('fullscreen')
       $(window).height() - @$('.video-controls').height()
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/video/display/video_player.coffee b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/video/display/video_player.coffee
index 4b265d20c8..bb89def63d 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/video/display/video_player.coffee
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/js/src/video/display/video_player.coffee
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ class @VideoPlayer extends Subview
       events:
         onReady: @onReady
         onStateChange: @onStateChange
+    @caption.hideCaptions(@['video'].hide_captions)
 
   addToolTip: ->
     @$('.add-fullscreen, .hide-subtitles').qtip