Captions appeared on television for the first time in 1972 with the airing of Julia Child's “The French Chef.” Twenty-six years later, the FCC required all video programming distributors to provide the deaf and hard of hearing with access to closed captioning. 

Over the past four decades, captioning and subtitles have spread beyond television programming and cinema and into spaces like retail, travel, healthcare, education, podcasting, and even social media. Accessibility is only part of the reason. You can expand your reach, cater to consumer preferences, and even localize your content with video subtitles.

The good news is that you don’t need to spend hours manually transcribing your footage to create video subtitles. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to add auto-generated subtitles to a video—no matter which device you’re using.

What is a video subtitle?  

Video subtitles are lines of text shown on screen that convey the video’s audio content. Other audio indicators like music and motion, known as sound text, are also included in video subtitles. 

There are two types of video subtitles: closed captions and open captions:

• Closed captions give the viewer the ability to turn the captions on and off at any time during the video. 
• Open captions are permanently embedded in the video, meaning you cannot turn them off. 

Video subtitle vs. video caption  

Subtitles are captions that provide a translation if the program is to be made available in other languages and countries. While the use case might be different, for creators’ purposes, video captions and subtitles are the same thing. 

Why add subtitles to a video?

Captions are not new, but providing access to content is an important task for creators. Here’s why:

• Subtitles improve accessibility. From storytelling and education to marketing, video captions have become a necessity. They provide access to the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. 
• Expand your video’s reach. Today, the vast majority of people watch online videos with the sound off. That means that adding captions to videos is essential not only for creating accessible content for the hearing-impaired but also for reaching an audience at all. 
• Translate your videos. Subtitling allows you to translate your video into other languages without re-recording the footage or hiring voice actors to record a voiceover. In Descript, you can translate the transcript into 20+ different languages and turn the new copy into on-screen subtitles.

What type of video needs to be subtitled?

Adding subtitles to a video is especially important for creators in these three areas: 

• Social media. Adding subtitles to your videos for social media significantly boosts watch time. Because Facebook videos and Instagram videos are first played on mute, adding captions allows for more content engagement. 
• Films and documentaries. Subtitling films allows people to fully comprehend and engage with a movie. It's important to note that a large portion of the population uses captions and subtitles while viewing movies even if they are not hard-of-hearing. 
• Higher education. Adding subtitles to educational content allows all students to access higher education, flexible learning solutions, and assistance with focusing. 

Should you use a media platform’s automated subtitle feature? 

Have you ever watched a video and noticed the captions didn’t match what the person was saying? This probably means the creator used a media platform’s automated caption feature. Most media platforms provide subtitling, however their transcriptions aren’t always accurate. 

Another important thing to know: Automated captions do not get indexed by Google or YouTube for discoverability via search. This means you have to manually add captions to your YouTube videos if you want search engines to recognize them. When captions are indexed, videos become searchable by the key terms used in your video captions. That makes your content appear in searches and improves your video SEO strategy.

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How to add subtitles to video on desktop using Descript

Pretty much any video editing software enables you to add captions. We’re going to tell you how to do it in Descript because a) we think it’s the best, and b) this is our blog, so duh.  

Descript’s automatic transcription and subtitling feature allows you to add open captions to your videos in seconds—no manual typing required. It’s also jam-packed with AI features to make editing a breeze. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Download Descript for Mac or Windows. Alternatively, open Descript in your browser and register for your free plan.

Step 2. Open a new video project and import your footage.

Step 3. Wait for Descript to automatically transcribe your video. This takes just a few seconds and is the foundation for how you’ll edit video in Descript.

Step 4. Use Underlord, the AI video editing assistant, to clean up your footage. You can remove filler words like umms and ahhs from your transcript (and the corresponding subtitles), improve audio quality, and edit for clarity. All of these tasks make your subtitles easier to read since you’ll have removed excess clutter from the transcript.

Step 5. Find Captions in the right-hand menu and select a style.

Step 6. Adjust the color, font, and positioning of your video’s new subtitles. (Tip: Run your video through again to ensure the subtitles don’t interfere with the main subject.)

Step 7. Click Publish to share or export your newly subtitled video in various file formats. If you’re on a paid plan, it will be watermark-free.

How to add subtitles to video on mobile

The traditional method of subtitling a video meant sourcing a transcript (either an auto-generated one or one created by a real person) and adding the text as an overlay on your video. While it gives you more control over your subtitle’s accuracy, it’s time-consuming. It might take an hour to transcribe and overlay text onto a two-minute video because each overlay must line up with the audio and visual a viewer sees on-screen. 

The easiest option is to use an auto-captioning app. Most app stores, including those available for iPhones and Android devices, have video editing apps that are compatible with either device. CapCut, Adobe Premiere Pro, and MixCaptions are popular options.

The tutorials for each video editing tool will differ slightly as the interface is different across either one. But as a general guideline, you should be able to find a Captions or Subtitle feature that’ll walk you through the process of adding subtitles to video footage you’ve imported into the app. 

Some social media platforms, including TikTok and Instagram, also have their own auto-subtitle generators. Usually reserved for creators who are using native video editing tools to perfect their video before publishing, they’re incredibly easy to use and don’t require you to download another app. That said, the accuracy isn’t great—you might need to spend a few minutes scanning the subtitles to check that they line up with what you’re saying. 

Auto-generate subtitles and more with Underlord in Descript

Descript saves you the hard work of manually transcribing your video content and syncing up timestamps with audio. Every video file gets an automated transcript as soon as it’s loaded into Descript, and with templates to keep the appearance of your subtitles consistent, your video content will always stay on-brand.

Automatic captioning is just one AI feature available in Descript’s video editor. You can also lean on the user-friendly AI editing assistant, Underlord, to: 

• Remove retakes and filler words
• Refine audio quality and silence background noise with Studio Sound
• Accurately translate your video into 20+ different languages 
• Write AI-generated video scripts, social media posts, and video descriptions
• Identify the best parts of your video and turn them into short-form videos—ideal for social media 

Underlord is standard in every plan, including the free one. Sign up for your account today to see how easy video editing is with Descript.

Add automatic subtitles to video FAQs

How can I put subtitles on a video?

• Use an auto-subtitle generator
• Add automatic captions in the TikTok or Instagram video editor
• Enable YouTube subtitles
• Transcribe your footage and export the subtitles (SRT file) with timestamps
• Add the transcript as a text overlay

How do you embed subtitles into a video?

1. Upload video footage to Descript
2. Wait for the automatically generated transcript
3. Go to Captions in the main menu
4. Choose a subtitle template
5. Rearrange how your subtitles look in the video preview
6. Save and export your newly-subtitled video

What is the best software to add subtitles?

• Descript
• CapCut
• Kapwing
• Rev
• Movavi 
• VEED