How to Add Subtitles to a Video

A video without captions loses people. Someone watches on mute on the bus, someone else cannot quite catch a name, and a clip meant for sharing just sits there, unshared. Adding subtitles fixes all three at once — if it does not take an editing suite to do it.

It does not have to. The free Video Subtitles tool works like this: play your video, tap when you want a caption, type it, drag on the timeline to fix the timing, then export. Everything runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded, and you choose at the end whether the captions live in a separate file, a switchable track, or burned right into the picture.

What You Need Before You Start

Get these ready first, so the timing work is not interrupted halfway through:

One video file — MP4, MOV, or WebM, under 500 MB. Over 200 MB, the tool page warns it may run slow on phones with limited memory, so a computer is the safer choice for big files.
The words, roughly — you will type each caption yourself as you go; there is no automatic transcription on this page, so having a transcript, a script, or at least the key lines written down speeds the whole job up enormously.
A decision on where the captions must show — everywhere, no exceptions, or only in players that support subtitle tracks? That choice decides your export in Step 6, and it is worth making before you start, not after you have timed forty captions.
A few spare minutes for the first run — the first time you export with burning, the tool loads its video engine, about 30 MB, and for burned captions a font file, about 17 MB, each downloaded once and then cached. After that, repeat runs skip the wait.

The one decision that matters most: soft subtitles keep your original video untouched and are quick, but many chat and social apps simply ignore them. Burned subtitles show up everywhere, but they take longer because the subtitled parts get re-encoded. Step 6 walks through all three exports so you can pick with your eyes open.

How to Add Subtitles to a Video, Step by Step

Step 1: Add your video

Open the Video Subtitles tool and drop your video onto the dropzone, or click it to pick a file from your device. Copied a video already? Ctrl+V pastes it straight in. The video loads in the preview player with a timeline underneath, and that timeline is where the rest of this guide happens. If your file is over 500 MB, the tool refuses it — trim it or compress it first, then come back; follow the page prompts for a refused file.

Ready to try it on your own clip? Open Video Subtitles in a new tab and drop your video in, then come back here for the captioning steps.

**Figure 1.** The tool with a video loaded and ready to caption. Arrow 1 points at the dropzone where the video was added. Arrow 2 points at the video preview player. Arrow 3 points at the empty timeline underneath the player. Corresponds to Step 1.

Step 2: Play and add your first caption

Press play and listen. When you reach a moment that needs a caption, tap + Add subtitle. A caption block appears on the timeline starting at that moment, and you type the text into it. Before you tap, glance at the duration dropdown next to the button: it sets how long each new caption lasts, with 1s, 2s, 3s, and 5s to choose from, and 3s is the default. Short lines suit 1s or 2s; a full sentence usually wants the default 3s or a 5s stretch. Do not agonise over the exact length here — Step 3 exists precisely so you can fix it afterwards. Repeat the same move through the video: play, tap at the moment, type, keep going.

This step really clicks once you do it, so open Video Subtitles in a new tab, press play on your video, and tap + Add subtitle at the first line that needs words.

**Figure 2.** The first caption added while the video plays. Arrow 1 points at the + Add subtitle button. Arrow 2 points at the duration dropdown set to 3s. Arrow 3 points at the new caption block on the timeline with its typed text visible in the preview. Corresponds to Step 2.

Step 3: Fine-tune the timing on the timeline

First-pass timing is never quite right, and that is normal. Drag a caption block on the timeline to move it, or drag its edges to stretch or shorten it — the tool page's own instruction is to drag the blocks to fine-tune each caption's start and end time. For exact numbers, select a caption and use the Start and End fields in the tuner row, which let you set both times precisely instead of by eye. Play the section back after each fix: a caption that appears half a second late reads as sloppy even when the words are perfect. One hard limit to know: the tool caps you at 40 subtitles per video, so if you hit a message about no room for a new one, you will need to merge short lines or shorten the captioned section.

Timing is a listening job, not a reading job — open Video Subtitles in a new tab, play a captioned section, and drag the block until the words land exactly when they are spoken.

**Figure 3.** A caption block being adjusted on the timeline. Arrow 1 points at the caption block being dragged. Arrow 2 points at the Start field in the tuner row. Arrow 3 points at the End field beside it. Corresponds to Step 3.

Step 4: Set the position and size

Where the words sit matters almost as much as when they appear. The Position control offers Bottom, Middle, and Top: Bottom is the default most viewers expect, Top keeps the lower part of the picture clear when something important happens down there, and Middle is the fallback when both edges are busy. Size gives you S, M, and L — small enough to stay out of the way, large enough to read on a phone held at arm's length. Watch the preview while you change these, not the timeline: the preview shows the caption exactly where the viewer will see it, including whether it covers a face or a key detail. Wrong caption entirely? Select it and hit Delete, then re-add it cleanly rather than patching the text.

Worth a minute of experimenting here: open Video Subtitles in a new tab and flip one caption between Bottom and Top while the preview plays, so you can see what each position covers.

**Figure 4.** A caption shown in the preview with its position and size controls. Arrow 1 points at the Position control set to Bottom. Arrow 2 points at the Size control (S, M, L). Arrow 3 points at the caption as it appears over the video preview. Corresponds to Step 4.

Step 5: Save your work as an SRT first

Before you pick a final export, hit Download .srt. This downloads a plain subtitle file with all your captions and timings, and it is the single most useful habit in this whole guide. Why: you can import that file back here any time with Import .srt and keep editing, so a project interrupted today is not a project lost. It is also the format to hand to YouTube, or to keep editing later in another tool. The SRT download is quick and does not touch your video at all — think of it as the save button for the captioning work itself, separate from whatever finished video you export next.

Do not skip the save, even if you are in a rush — open Video Subtitles in a new tab, finish your captions, and download the SRT before you choose a video export.

**Figure 5.** The export row with the SRT buttons. Arrow 1 points at the Download .srt button. Arrow 2 points at the Import .srt button beside it. Arrow 3 points at the subtitle count shown near the timeline, confirming how many captions will be saved. Corresponds to Step 5.

Step 6: Export the finished video

Now choose the export that matches where this video will be watched. MP4 + subtitle track embeds a switchable track into one MP4 file: the viewer can toggle captions on or off, and the tool page lists VLC, MX Player, QuickTime, and most desktop players as working with it. The original video stays untouched, so this one is quick. Burn into video draws the text into the frames themselves, so captions show in every player and every app, including the chat and social apps that ignore subtitle tracks — at the cost of time, since the subtitled segments are decoded, drawn on, and re-encoded, while segments without captions are copied without re-encoding. The burned font is Noto Sans SC, downloaded once at about 17 MB and cached, covering Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Latin characters. Whichever you pick, hit Download when it is ready, then play the result through once before you share it.

Decision time, and it is yours to make in the tool — open Video Subtitles in a new tab, pick MP4 + subtitle track or Burn into video, and watch the finished file once before sending it out.

**Figure 6.** The finished export options. Arrow 1 points at the MP4 + subtitle track button. Arrow 2 points at the Burn into video button. Arrow 3 points at the Download link that appears once the export is ready. Corresponds to Step 6.

Which Export Should You Choose?

Download .srt if you upload to YouTube, or want to keep editing later — you can re-import the file here any time. MP4 + subtitle track if you want one file with captions the viewer can toggle on and off, and your audience mostly watches in VLC, MX Player, or a desktop player. Burn into video if the captions must be visible everywhere — social apps, chat apps, any player — with zero dependence on subtitle support. If you are torn between the last two, burn it: a caption nobody can turn off beats a caption nobody ever sees.

Common Problems and Fixes

Video refused on upload? Check the size first: the maximum is 500 MB. Over that, trim or compress the video, then add it again.
Everything slow on a phone? The tool page warns files over 200 MB may run slow on phones with limited memory. Move to a computer for large files, or trim the video down first.
Captions show in VLC but not in a chat app? That is expected, not a bug: many chat and social apps ignore subtitle tracks. Re-export with Burn into video so the text is in the picture itself.
Burning taking a while? Also expected. Burning decodes each subtitled segment, draws the text on, and re-encodes that part; the first run also loads the video engine, about 30 MB, and the font, about 17 MB, once each.
No room for a new subtitle? The cap is 40 subtitles. Merge short neighbouring lines into one caption, or shorten the section you are captioning.
Caption timing feels off? Drag the block on the timeline, or set Start and End exactly in the tuner row, then play that section back. Fixing it now is far cheaper than re-exporting a burned video twice.
Lost your captions after closing the tab? If you downloaded the SRT in Step 5, nothing is lost: Import .srt brings the whole set back and you can continue editing.

That is the whole workflow, and it is shorter than it looks on the page: video in, play and tap, drag the timing right, save the SRT, pick your export. The first video takes a while because you are typing and timing at the same time; the second one goes much quicker, because by then you already know which export you want before you start.

Open Video Subtitles — Free

No sign-up, no upload, no watermark added to your export. Your files stay on your device.