How do I add captions to a video?
Upload your clip in the tool above, wait a few seconds for the automatic transcript, then download the SRT or open it in the editor to style and export. Nothing to install, no account to transcribe. Here is the full flow, start to finish.
- 1. Upload a video. Drag in or pick an MP4, MOV, WebM or audio file up to 60 seconds. Your browser extracts a small audio track locally — the full video never leaves your device.
- 2. Auto-transcribe. The audio is sent once to the speech-to-text engine, which returns time-coded words. You will see them rendered in a live, animated preview.
- 3. Style the captions. Pick from 40+ animated styles. Word-level emphasis, motion, emoji, and an off-centre position are applied for you — all editable.
- 4. Export. Download a watermark-free SRT or VTT for any editor, or render a finished captioned video for TikTok, Shorts, or Reels.
If you only need a subtitle file — for YouTube, a podcast, an accessibility requirement, or a translation pass — the SRT alone is a complete, standards-compliant deliverable that drops into Premiere, Final Cut, DaVinci Resolve, or a YouTube upload without any conversion. For the transcription step on its own, see the auto subtitle generator.
Captions vs subtitles — and why animated captions win the view
A subtitle file makes a video accessible and searchable. Animated captions make it watchable. For short-form video, the second one is what keeps a viewer through the first three seconds — the moment that decides whether your content gets watched at all.
Static white text dead-centre in the frame reads like a legal requirement. A caption with the right word enlarged, a touch of motion on entrance, an emoji on the beat, and a position off the dead centre reads like content made on purpose. That is the wedge here: most caption tools have moved upmarket into general AI video editing and let the caption craft slide. We went the other way and specialised in the part that holds attention — the captions themselves — rendered frame-for-frame matched to the leading paid tool, measured at zero divergence across 1,647 reference frames.
Browse the full set on the caption styles gallery to see a representative range rendered live, then flip to any of them in the editor without re-transcribing.
How accurate is the automatic transcription?
Accuracy depends on the language and the audio. On our 2026-06-11 Dutch benchmark of 81 clips, our best configuration reached 25.3% word error rate, ahead of Whisper's 28.7% on the same set. We always show the words, so you can correct anything before exporting.
| Configuration | Word error rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| FancyCaptions (Scribe v2, Dutch) | 25.3% | Our 2026-06-11 benchmark, 81 Dutch clips |
| Whisper large-v2 (same clips) | 28.7% | Baseline on the identical set |
Lower word error rate is better. Benchmark: 81 Dutch clips, measured 2026-06-11. See the full accuracy benchmark.
We publish word error rate with its date and clip count rather than a flashy round percentage, because that is the honest, auditable measure. No tool transcribes accented, fast, or noisy speech perfectly, which is exactly why every word stays editable. The aim is to get you most of the way there automatically and make the last corrections trivial — and it is why Dutch and Flemish hold up here where generic tools slip.
Add captions without After Effects
You do not need After Effects, keyframes, or a layer-based editor to add captions that move. Pick a style and the entrance animation, word-level emphasis, emoji placement, and timing are computed for you. What takes an editor an afternoon of keyframing happens in a few clicks, in your browser.
Because the on-page preview runs the same render path as the export — the same engine, the same template CSS, the same timing — what you preview is exactly what you ship. There is no gap between approving a look and getting it. Each style is its own designer-authored geometry, not a recolor of one base, which is why the 40+ styles look genuinely distinct.
Is it free? What does it cost?
Transcribing and downloading the SRT are free, with no sign-up. To style captions, caption longer videos, or export a finished captioned video, the free plan covers 3 videos a month with a watermark, and paid plans are a flat $19, $39, or $69 a month — no per-minute metering, no seat games, no lock-in.
Flat pricing means you always know the bill. See full pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How do I add captions to a video?
Upload your clip in the tool above, wait a few seconds for the automatic transcript, then download a watermark-free SRT or open it in the editor to add animated captions and export a finished video. There is nothing to install and no account is needed to transcribe. The audio is extracted in your browser and the words come back time-coded in seconds.
Can I add captions to a video for free?
Yes. Transcribing your clip and downloading the SRT are free with no sign-up. To style animated captions, caption longer videos, or export a finished captioned video, the free plan covers 3 videos a month with a watermark, and paid plans are a flat $19, $39, or $69 a month — no per-minute metering and no lock-in.
What is the difference between captions and subtitles?
In everyday use the terms overlap — both put spoken words on screen with timing. Subtitles usually mean a plain transcript of dialogue, often delivered as an SRT file. Captions on short-form video tend to mean the styled, animated text creators burn into the frame, with word-level emphasis and motion. This tool does both: a clean SRT, or animated captions exported into the video.
How do I add animated captions like TikTok and Reels creators use?
After transcribing, open your transcript in the editor and pick from 40+ animated styles. Each line gets word-by-word emphasis, an entrance animation, motion, and an off-centre position automatically — matched frame-for-frame to the leading paid caption tool. There are no keyframes, layers, or After Effects; you choose a style and export a video ready for TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or Instagram Reels.
How accurate is the automatic transcription?
Accuracy depends on the language and audio quality. On our 2026-06-11 Dutch benchmark of 81 clips, our best configuration reached 25.3% word error rate — better than Whisper's 28.7% on the same set. English and other high-resource languages transcribe more accurately still, and the words are always editable before you export.
What languages can I caption?
50+ languages, routed automatically to the speech-to-text engine that handles each one best. Dutch and Flemish are a deliberate focus where most caption tools struggle — we tune specifically for them — while English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German and dozens of others transcribe cleanly.
Do I need After Effects or video-editing skills?
No. There are no keyframes, layers, timelines, or After Effects to learn. Upload a clip, pick a style, and the emphasis, animation, and timing are applied for you in the browser — polished captions in minutes. If you can choose a style, you can produce captions that look like a professional editor made them.
Will my video file be stored or uploaded anywhere?
No. The audio is extracted in your browser and sent once to an ephemeral endpoint that returns the transcript and deletes the temporary file. The free tool does not create an account, save your video, or keep your transcript.
Does the SRT or caption file have a watermark?
No. The downloaded SRT subtitle file is plain text with no watermark and no branding. Watermarks only apply to exported video on the free plan, and they disappear on any paid plan.
What video formats can I upload?
Any common video container with an audio track — MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV — or an audio file like WAV or MP3. The free tool reads up to 60 seconds; sign up to caption full-length videos.
Can I edit the captions after transcribing?
Yes. Open your transcript in the editor to correct wording, set line breaks, add word-level emphasis and emoji, pick from 40+ animated styles, and export an SRT, VTT, or a fully captioned video. Nothing you do in the free transcript is lost when you carry it into the editor.
What does it cost to export a captioned video?
The free plan exports 3 videos a month with a watermark. Paid plans are a flat $19, $39, or $69 a month with no watermark, no per-minute metering, and no lock-in — so you always know the bill in advance.
Keep going
Add captions to your next video in minutes
Transcribe free above, download the SRT, or style it into animated captions and export. No credit card to start.