How to Make YouTube Subtitles: Auto-Generate an SRT, Upload It or Burn It In

Why add subtitles?

Lots of people watch with the sound off — scrolling Shorts and Reels on a train or at work, they skip videos without captions. Subtitles increase watch time, help YouTube understand your video for search, and make it easy to add English or other languages for a wider audience.

Step 1: Draft subtitles with AI

1. In Auto Subtitle Generator, choose the Spoken language.
2. Add your video and AI (Whisper) transcribes it with timing. The first time, the model has to download.
3. Choose SRT as the format — YouTube and almost every editor reads it.

For long videos, trim unneeded parts with the Video Trimmer first to save processing time.

Step 2: Polish the captions

AI subtitles are a first draft. You can edit them right in the result box; check:

• Names of people, brands and places — the most common errors.
• Numbers: "thirty percent" or "30%", whichever reads better.
• Line length: around 32–42 characters per line is comfortable. Split long sentences.
• Overlaps: make sure two captions don't overlap in time.

Step 3: Upload to YouTube

1. Open the video in YouTube Studio and go to Subtitles.
2. Add a language, choose Upload file and pick With timing.
3. Upload the SRT and publish.

These are closed captions viewers can turn on or off. Menu names may shift slightly as YouTube updates.

Shorts and Reels: burn them in

Where you can't upload a subtitle file — Shorts, Reels, TikTok — it's better to burn the text into the picture. Drop the video and SRT into Add Subtitles to Video, pick size and position, and you get an MP4 with captions. For vertical video, keep captions around the lower third so they aren't covered by app buttons.

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