Video editing

How to add captions to a video (and why auto-captions win)

By Tushar Agarwal, Founder, Explaino · Updated October 17, 2026 · 6 min read

Quick answer

To add captions to a video, generate a transcript, split it into lines of at most two rows timed to the speech, and either burn the text into the video or export a sidecar file (SRT/VTT). AI tools transcribe and time the captions automatically; in Explaino, captions are generated with the edit and restyled to your brand kit in one click.

Watch: Auto-captioning a product video

Video walkthrough coming soon

This video is being made with Explaino from a single screen recording. You can make your own version in a few minutes.

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Made with Explaino: recorded once, then narrated, zoomed and captioned automatically.

Step by step

1
Transcribe the audio
Use speech-to-text rather than typing. Fix product names and jargon in the transcript first — every later step inherits those fixes.
2
Break the transcript into caption lines
Keep lines short: at most two rows, roughly 40 characters each, and break at natural phrase boundaries, never mid-name.
3
Time captions to speech
Each caption should appear as its first word is spoken and stay just long enough to read. Auto-captioning tools do this from the transcript timestamps.
4
Style for readability
High-contrast text, a subtle background or outline, and placement that never covers the UI you're demonstrating. In Explaino, caption styling comes from your brand kit.
5
Choose burned-in or closed captions
Burn captions into the pixels for social feeds and embeds that lack caption support; ship an SRT/VTT sidecar for YouTube and players where viewers can toggle them.

Why captions are non-negotiable for product videos

A large share of workplace viewing happens muted — in open offices, in docs, in Slack previews. Captions keep the video useful with the sound off, make it accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, and help non-native speakers follow along.

Captions also carry SEO weight indirectly: the transcript behind them becomes the step-by-step article, the searchable text in your help center, and the input for translation into other languages.

Caption styling rules that hold up

A few conventions cover almost every case:

Two rows maximum; viewers can't read three while watching a cursor.
Sentence case, not ALL CAPS — caps read slower.
Keep captions clear of the area where clicks happen.
Match caption language to the voiceover; translated videos need translated captions, not the original text.

Record it once. Explaino does the rest.

Turn one screen recording into a narrated video with smart zoom and captions, plus a step-by-step article, in 70+ languages.

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Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between captions and subtitles?

Captions transcribe the same-language audio (including cues like [notification sound]) for viewers who can't hear it. Subtitles translate dialogue into another language. Product tutorials usually need captions, plus translated captions for localized versions.

Are auto-captions accurate enough?

Modern speech-to-text is accurate on clear narration; the errors cluster in product names and acronyms. Fix those once in the transcript and the captions, article and translations all inherit the fix.

Does Explaino caption translated videos?

Yes. When you translate a video, the voiceover, captions and on-screen text are translated together, so the captions always match what's spoken.

How to add captions to a video (and why auto-captions win)

Watch: Auto-captioning a product video

Step by step

Transcribe the audio

Break the transcript into caption lines

Time captions to speech

Style for readability

Choose burned-in or closed captions