How to add subtitles to video

Adding subtitles is more than dragging a file into a timeline. You decide whether captions stay toggleable for accessibility or burn into pixels for places where people never turn sound on. You also decide how text sits next to logos, lower thirds, and vertical safe areas.

This guide walks through importing an SRT, setting sane defaults, previewing on a small screen, and exporting the right flavor for YouTube, a course LMS, or a client review. You will avoid the usual layout traps that make great transcripts look amateur on phones.

If you still need the SRT itself, generate it from your audio or video with our free upload tool, download, then import into Premiere, Resolve, DaVinci, or your platform. The converter handles the tedious draft; you handle design and placement.

Free tool

Rather do it than read about it? Upload an audio or video file and get a timed .srt back.No signup, no payment, up to 100 MB per file.

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Step-by-step guide

Step 1: Start from an SRT you trust

Import the latest revision. If the file name ends in _draft, assume it is wrong. Confirm UTF-8 encoding so accents render correctly in the player.

Step 2: Import into captions, not only a text layer

Nonlinear editors expect captions in the caption track or equivalent. Plain text layers lose timing precision and are painful to edit later.

Step 3: Set style and safe margins

Pick a readable font size for mobile. Leave padding above lower thirds. If brand guidelines demand a box, test contrast on bright and dark scenes.

Step 4: Watch once at real time

Do not only scrub. Listening catches late cues and awkward line breaks scrubbing hides.

Step 5: Export the right mode for the destination

Sidecar SRT for accessibility and re-use. Burned-in for a single flattened deliverable. Choose consciously. Burn-in cannot be toggled off.

Step 6: Upload to the platform with correct language tags

YouTube and others use language metadata for search and accessibility. Tag accurately instead of dumping “English” on every track.

Step 7: Archive project and SRT together

Zip the timeline project or store in a versioned folder. Future edits should not start from a random export from email.

Tips for better subtitles

Two-line captions beat three on short social clips.
If you localize, duplicate sequences or tracks per language.
Use wired headphones when judging sync; Bluetooth adds latency.
If captions collide with on-screen text, move style up or shorten lines.
For TikTok or Reels, preview vertical safe zones. Web players differ.
Teach clients the difference between soft and hard captions before they ask for “the MP4.”

Common mistakes

Burning captions in too early You lose flexibility when the script changes after picture lock.
Tiny fonts for 4K timelines viewed on phones What looks large on a monitor shrinks on mobile.
Mixing caption languages in one file Separate files reduce confusion for platforms and viewers.
Skipping a phone preview Most viewers are not on your grading monitor.

FAQ

Soft subtitles or burned-in captions?

Soft subtitles are a separate SRT the viewer can switch on and off; burned-in captions are part of the pixels. Prefer soft wherever the destination accepts a file, because a typo is then a few kilobytes to replace. Burn in only for feeds that autoplay muted and ignore subtitle files.

Where do I put the SRT so a player finds it automatically?

Next to the video, with the same name: interview.mp4 and interview.srt in one folder. VLC, MPV and most desktop players pick that up without being asked, and adding a language code as in interview.en.srt keeps working while allowing several languages.

Do I need a different subtitle file for each platform?

Usually not. YouTube, Vimeo, LinkedIn and most editors all read the same SRT. What changes between platforms is styling and position, and none of that is stored in the file anyway.

Conclusion

Adding subtitles is half technical import and half design judgment. Get timing right, then make text readable in the real environments people use. Keep soft files for accessibility, burn in only when the delivery calls for it.

Generate or refine your SRT, then import with confidence into the tool you already know.

Now on your own file

The quickest way to finish this guide is to walk through these steps on your own recording: upload it, correct any line against the audio, download the .srt.Your upload and the subtitles are deleted automatically about an hour after the conversion.