Subtitle generator: For YouTube, Shorts, Reels and TikTok videos

Fix the text first

Viewers read subtitles, so mistakes do not go unnoticed. Correcting the text in LiveType is far easier than wrestling with a subtitle file: change a word without touching any timing, and the file is built from the new text when you export.

• While it runs: Fix a wrong name as the text comes, and the subtitles are mostly ready when the video ends.
• By ear: Click a paragraph’s time and the player goes there.
• Punctuation: A sentence you end with a full stop also breaks the subtitle there.
• Speakers: With separation on, the name goes at the start of the line where the speaker changes. Keep it off for a solo video, and no name appears.

Each subtitle cue holds at most 84 characters. Cues share out a paragraph’s time by their length, so timing is exact at the start of a paragraph and approximate inside it. Watch the result with the video before publishing.

Adding subtitles, platform by platform

Instagram and TikTok offer their own automatic captions. For a short video with clear speech they may be enough, so look at them first. If there are many names, or you will use the same text on several platforms, your own file saves time. These apps change their options often, so check what your sharing screen shows.

Upload to YouTube Studio

According to YouTube Help, you upload the file like this:

1. In YouTube Studio, open Subtitles in the left menu and choose the video.
2. Choose the language with Add language.
3. In the subtitles row, press Add, then Upload file.
4. Choose With timing, select the SRT file and save.

Viewers can then turn the subtitles on and off. If you are looking for the words of someone else’s video, the YouTube to text page is the better fit.

Burning subtitles in takes another tool

On short videos, subtitles are often part of the picture, since many people watch without sound. For that, you bring the SRT file into a video editor:

• CapCut: According to its help page, the desktop and web versions import SRT, and the mobile app does not. Choose the font and position, then export the video.
• HandBrake: Free and open source. Add the SRT in its Subtitles tab and use Burn In. It is for quick processing, not visual editing.

Long lines do not fit a portrait video. Shorten them in the editor, or split paragraphs into short sentences in LiveType before exporting. Place the text a little above the bottom of the screen, because the apps’ own buttons and captions take up space there.

What the subtitle file does not include

• LiveType does not burn subtitles into the video; it only produces the file.
• It does not translate: a Turkish video gets Turkish subtitles.
• It is not suited to song lyrics, and accuracy drops for speech over music.
• Subtitle styling (colours, word-by-word highlighting) is not in the file; you add it in the editor.

The same SRT and VTT files also serve as podcast transcripts: podcast transcription covers that, along with chapters and show notes.

The free plan has 30 minutes in total, which goes a long way for short videos. For accuracy, see Turkish speech to text. For file formats and choosing a range, see MP3 to text, and for plans the pricing page.