Step 1: get a subtitle file for the video
YouTube needs a subtitle file with timing. The quickest way to get one is the tool above: drop in the same video you uploaded to YouTube, let it transcribe, and download the SRT from the Export tab. Before you do, read through the lines and fix names, product names and channel jargon. That's where automatic transcripts, YouTube's included, go wrong most.
It needs the video file, not a link. If the video is already on your channel and you no longer have the file, YouTube Studio lets you download your own uploads from the Content page.
Step 2: upload the SRT in YouTube Studio
These steps follow YouTube Help as it read in October 2026, on a computer:
- Sign in to YouTube Studio.
- Select Subtitles in the left menu, then click the video.
- Click Add language and choose the language that's spoken in the video.
- Under Subtitles, click Add.
- Choose Upload file, select With timing and click Continue.
- Pick your .srt file, check the preview, then click Save.
Pick With timing because an SRT already carries a start and end time for every line. Without timing is for a plain transcript, and YouTube then guesses the timing itself.
If the upload fails or the timing is off
Most failed uploads come down to the file, not YouTube:
- Save the file as plain UTF-8. Some text editors on Windows save in another encoding, and accented letters then come out garbled.
- Every timestamp needs a comma before the milliseconds (
00:01:02,500). A dot there is VTT style and breaks an SRT. - If every line is early or late by the same amount, the video was probably trimmed after the subtitles were made. Open the file in our online subtitle editor, type the offset into Shift all, and save it again.
Our guide to SRT files shows what a clean file looks like line by line.
Subtitles for Shorts: burn them in
An uploaded SRT works on Shorts too, but it only shows for viewers who switch captions on, and in the Shorts feed almost nobody does. For Shorts we'd put the captions into the picture instead. In the tool above, pick Bold pop (it sits higher in the frame, away from the bottom strip where YouTube puts the title and buttons) and press Render video on the Export tab. You get an MP4 to upload as the Short.
The same file works for TikTok and Reels. See captions for Reels and Shorts for where each app's buttons sit.
What about YouTube's automatic captions?
YouTube writes automatic captions for many languages after you upload, and they're free. If you check them and they're fine, you don't need to do anything else. The trouble is that most people don't check them, and an unchecked automatic track on a video about your product will misspell your product. Uploading your own file doesn't remove the automatic track. Our guide to YouTube auto captions shows how to edit or unpublish it so viewers only see yours.