How to add subtitles to a video here
- Drop an MP4, MOV or WebM into the box above. Up to 30 minutes.
- Leave the language on auto-detect, or pick it from the menu if the clip is short or the speaker switches languages.
- Play it back and fix what's wrong. Click a line to retype it, change a start or end time, or split and merge lines.
- Pick a style: Karaoke, Classic, Boxed or Bold pop. Change the size, colors and position if you want.
- Press Render video for an MP4 with the subtitles in the picture, or download SRT or VTT.
The video is opened in your browser and never uploaded. For the transcription step, the browser pulls out a small compressed audio track and sends only that to Whisper, the speech model we use. We don't keep the audio or the subtitles that come back.
Got a subtitle file already? Drop it in with the video and the tool skips the transcription. That's also the way to add captions to video free when someone else wrote them, like a translator or a captioning service.
Burned in, or a separate file?
Decide this before you export. It matters more than which tool you use.
| Burned in (open captions) | Separate SRT or VTT file | |
|---|---|---|
| Can viewers turn them off? | No, they're part of the picture | Yes, with the CC button |
| Shows up when the video is shared or downloaded? | Always | Only where the player loads the file |
| Can you style them? | Yes: font, size, colors, word highlight | Barely, the player decides |
| Good for | TikTok, Reels, Shorts, WhatsApp, ads, anything that autoplays muted | YouTube, Vimeo, course platforms, long videos |
Plenty of people do both from the same edit: an SRT for the YouTube upload and a burned-in MP4 for the clip they post on Instagram. The trade-offs are covered in more depth in open vs closed captions.
Other ways to add captions to a video
If the video is already open in an editor, use the captions there. Exporting to a second tool just for subtitles is extra work. Here's how the common options compare at the time of writing (October 2026).
| Method | Cost | Writes the subtitles for you? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| This page | Free, no account | Yes | A finished video file and no editor open |
| YouTube Studio | Free | Yes, for supported languages | Videos that only live on YouTube |
| CapCut | Free app; auto captions may need Pro | Yes | Videos you already edit in CapCut |
| Canva | Free and paid plans | Yes | Videos built from Canva templates |
| HandBrake | Free | No, it needs an SRT | Burning an existing SRT in offline |
| Premiere Pro | Subscription | Yes | People already paying for Adobe |
YouTube Studio
In Studio, open Subtitles, pick the video, add a language, then upload a file, auto-sync a transcript or type the lines yourself. The subtitles only exist on YouTube, though. Download the video and they're gone. Our page on adding subtitles to a YouTube video has the exact clicks and the upload settings that trip people up.
CapCut and Canva
Both generate captions inside the editor: Text, then Auto captions in CapCut; Text, Dynamic text, then Captions in Canva. If the video is already in one of them, stay there. One catch with CapCut: its own plan comparison lists the auto caption tool as a Pro feature, so some accounts get asked to upgrade. The CapCut captions guide and the Canva captions guide go step by step.
HandBrake, DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro
HandBrake is free and burns an SRT into a video without an internet connection: Subtitles tab, import the SRT, tick Burn In, encode. It won't write the subtitles for you. DaVinci Resolve's free version takes an SRT or hand-typed lines, while its automatic subtitles have been a Studio (paid) feature. Premiere Pro transcribes well if you already pay for it; see captions in Premiere Pro.
Before you publish
Read the subtitles once with the sound on. Speech models, ours included, slip in the same places: names, brand terms, and numbers that sound alike ("fifteen" and "fifty"). Fixing those takes a couple of minutes and it's the difference between subtitles that look automatic and ones that look checked.
For vertical video, watch where the lines sit. Karaoke, Classic and Boxed sit low in the frame, which is where TikTok and Reels put their buttons and captions. Raise the position slider a little, or use Bold pop, which already sits higher. If you only want a subtitle file and no video, the SRT generator opens straight on the download options.