Free AI Subtitle & Caption Generator
Generate accurate subtitles from any video or audio file with AI speech recognition, in seconds, then turn them into animated captions for Reels, Shorts, TikTok and podcasts: the spoken word lights up, pops or sits on a colour box. Your video stays on your device. Burn subtitles directly into your video with 12 font families, 4 font styles, custom colors, and precise placement — perfect for Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and social media. Export as SRT or VTT. Free, no sign-up, and no watermark on any video.
Your video never leaves your device. How?
In Accurate mode only the audio is sent to our server to be transcribed, then deleted. Choose "On this device" in the settings and nothing is uploaded.
Select or drop a video or audio file
MP4, WebM, MOV, MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG. Your video stays on your device.
Click, tap, or drop a fileHow to generate subtitles from a video
Upload your video or audio
Drop or choose a video (MP4, WebM, MOV) or audio file (MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG). Your video stays on your device.
Choose the spoken language
Select the spoken language for higher accuracy, or use "Auto-detect" to let the AI identify it. 99 languages are supported.
Generate subtitles with AI
Click Generate Subtitles. In Accurate mode only the audio is sent to be transcribed, and the timestamped subtitles come back in seconds. On this device, the Whisper AI model downloads on first use (about 41 MB, cached for next time) and transcribes in your browser.
Edit and review the transcript
Review the timestamped segments and fix any words. Click any segment text to edit — correct names, technical terms, or punctuation before exporting.
Pick an animated caption style
Choose a style (Highlight, Box, One word, Word by word, Clean, Pill and Underline), a font (Poppins and Baloo support Hindi), highlight colour, size and position, and watch the preview play on your own video before burning.
Customize subtitle style
Choose from 12 font families (Arial, Impact, Georgia, Times New Roman, and more), 4 font styles (Bold, Normal, Italic, Bold Italic), 5 colors, 4 sizes, and 3 positions.
Export SRT/VTT or burn into video
Download subtitles as SRT or VTT for any video editor, or burn them permanently into your video — one click, ready for social media.
How the subtitle generator works
Accurate mode (the default): your browser takes the audio out of the video, compresses it, and sends only that audio to our server, which passes it to Groq's Whisper large-v3-turbo speech recognition with data retention turned off (or to the same model at DeepInfra, which doesn't store audio either, when Groq is busy). The timestamped subtitles come back in a few seconds and nothing is stored, by us or by them. The video itself never leaves your device.
On this device: OpenAI's Whisper model runs in your browser via ONNX Runtime WebAssembly. The model and its runtime (about 41 MB) download on first use and are cached by your browser, so return visits skip the download. Nothing is uploaded.
Audio is extracted from your video using the Web Audio API, resampled to 16 kHz mono, and fed to the Whisper model in 30-second overlapping chunks. Each chunk produces timestamped text segments that become your subtitle lines.
When you burn subtitles into the video, each subtitle line is rendered as a transparent PNG overlay using the Canvas API with your chosen font family, style, color, and size. FFmpeg WebAssembly then composites these overlays onto the video at the correct timestamps, producing a single output file with permanent open captions.
Burning subtitles in happens on your device too, so the finished video is never uploaded. No video gets a watermark, animated captions included, and there's no account.
Subtitle generator features
Animated captions for Reels, Shorts and podcasts
The look short-form editors use: the spoken word lights up, pops or sits on a colour box, in time with the speech. 7 styles, five fonts (Hindi included), any highlight colour, size and position, with a live preview on your video before you burn it in. Free, with no watermark; ClipUtils Pro adds 13 more styles.
12 font families for subtitle customization
Choose from Arial, Impact, Georgia, Times New Roman, Verdana, Trebuchet MS, Tahoma, Courier New, Comic Sans MS, Lucida Console, Palatino, and Garamond. Each font renders directly into your video with crisp anti-aliased text — no server-side processing.
Bold, italic, and bold italic styles
Apply Bold, Normal, Italic, or Bold Italic to your subtitles. Combine font family and style for the exact look you want — cinematic serif for film, bold sans-serif for social media, or playful Comic Sans for casual content.
Burn subtitles permanently into video
Embed subtitles (hardcode / hardburn / open captions) directly into your video file. Customize font family, style, color, size, and placement (top, middle, or bottom). The output is a single MP4 ready for Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, or any platform that auto-plays without captions.
Your choice: Accurate mode, or 100% on your device
Accurate mode sends only the audio (never the video) to our server for Whisper large-v3-turbo to transcribe in seconds; nothing is kept. Free (fair use), up to 15 minutes per video. Or choose On this device: the Whisper AI model runs locally via WebAssembly, nothing is uploaded, and there's no limit.
Accurate AI speech recognition (Whisper)
Powered by OpenAI's Whisper models: large-v3-turbo in Accurate mode, a compact Whisper on your device. Handles accents, background noise, music, and natural conversational speech.
99 languages supported
Transcribe speech in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Arabic, Russian, Dutch, Turkish, and 85+ other languages. Auto-detection identifies the language automatically.
Editable transcript before export
Every subtitle segment is editable inline. Fix names, technical jargon, or any misheard words directly in the browser before exporting or burning in.
SRT and VTT export
Export as SubRip (.srt) for VLC, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, and most video editors, or WebVTT (.vtt) for HTML5 video, YouTube upload, and streaming platforms.
Works with video and audio files
Supports MP4, WebM, MOV, MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG, and AAC. The tool extracts the audio track from video files automatically.
Social media ready output
Burned-in subtitles are the standard for Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Stories, and LinkedIn video. Viewers watch with sound off — burned-in captions ensure your message gets across.
Made for your kind of video
Auto Captions for Reels, Shorts & TikTok
Add animated captions to Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and TikTok: the spoken word lights up or pops. Free, no sign-up, your video stays on your device.
Podcast Transcript & Subtitle Generator
Turn a podcast episode into a transcript for show notes, an SRT file for YouTube, or captioned clips. AI transcription in 99 languages. Free, no sign-up.
Frequently asked questions
Can I make animated captions like on Reels and TikTok?
Yes. After the subtitles are made, pick a style: Highlight (the spoken word lights up), Box (the spoken word on a colour box), Pill (words on a dark strip), Underline, One word, Word by word or Clean, and 13 more with ClipUtils Pro. Choose the font, colour, size and position, play the preview on your video, then burn the captions in. In Accurate mode each word is timed to when it's spoken.
Does it work for podcast clips and long videos?
Yes. Accurate mode transcribes up to 15 minutes of audio per video in seconds; longer recordings are transcribed on your device. Landscape and vertical videos both work, and you can export SRT/VTT for YouTube or burn the captions into the video.
Is this subtitle generator really free?
Yes. Accurate mode is free with fair-use limits, for videos up to 15 minutes; past those limits, or for longer videos, subtitles are made on your device, which is free and unlimited. No video gets a watermark, and no account is required.
Is my video uploaded to a server?
No, your video never leaves your device. In Accurate mode (the default) only the audio is sent, through our server, to Groq's speech recognition with data retention turned off (or the same model at DeepInfra, which doesn't store it either); nothing is kept by us or by them. Choose On this device and nothing is uploaded at all: the AI model (about 41 MB) downloads once and runs in your browser. Burning subtitles in also happens on your device.
How accurate are the AI-generated subtitles?
Accurate mode uses Whisper large-v3-turbo, one of the most accurate open speech recognition models, and is clearly better than the on-device model, especially for languages other than English such as Hindi, Arabic, Spanish or Turkish. Accuracy also depends on audio clarity and background noise. You can edit any mistakes before exporting or burning in.
What languages are supported for subtitle generation?
Whisper supports 99 languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Arabic, Russian, Dutch, Turkish, Polish, Swedish, and many more. Use Auto-detect or select the language manually for better accuracy.
How long does subtitle generation take?
In Accurate mode, a few seconds, even for a 10-minute video, on phones too. On this device: on a laptop, roughly 4–5 times faster than the video plays (an 82-second video took about 15–21 seconds on a 2020 laptop once the model was loaded); phones are slower, and the first run also downloads the AI model (about 41 MB).
What fonts can I use for burned-in subtitles?
You can choose from 12 web-safe font families: Arial, Impact, Georgia, Times New Roman, Verdana, Trebuchet MS, Tahoma, Courier New, Comic Sans MS, Lucida Console, Palatino, and Garamond. Each can be combined with Bold, Normal, Italic, or Bold Italic styles. You also get 5 text colors (white, yellow, cyan, green, red), 4 sizes, and 3 positions (top, middle, bottom).
What is the difference between SRT and VTT subtitle files?
SRT (SubRip) is the most widely supported subtitle format — it works in VLC, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, and most video editors. VTT (WebVTT) is the web standard used in HTML5 video elements, YouTube, and streaming platforms. Both contain the same timed text; pick whichever your player or editor needs.
Can I burn subtitles directly into my video?
Yes. After generating subtitles, customize the font family, font style, color, size, and position, then click 'Burn Subtitles into Video'. The tool re-encodes the video with permanent (hardcoded) subtitles on your device — the video is never uploaded. The output is a single video file ready for social media.
What are burned-in subtitles vs. soft subtitles?
Burned-in (hardcoded / open) subtitles are permanently embedded in the video pixels — viewers cannot turn them off. This is the standard for Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. Soft subtitles (SRT/VTT files) are separate files that can be toggled on/off in a media player. ClipUtils supports both — export SRT/VTT for soft subs, or burn in for hard subs.
Can I add subtitles to a video for Instagram Reels or TikTok?
Yes. Generate subtitles, customize the font and style to match your brand, choose a bold color like white or yellow for readability, and burn them into the video. The output is a single MP4 file you can upload directly to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or any social platform.
Does it work offline?
Accurate mode needs a connection. On this device, after the AI model has downloaded once, subtitle generation works offline. The model is cached in your browser, so subsequent visits do not require an internet connection. Burning subtitles into video also works offline once the video engine (about 9 MB) has downloaded.
What video and audio file formats are supported?
Video: MP4, WebM, MOV. Audio: MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG, AAC. The tool automatically extracts the audio track from video files for transcription.
Can I edit subtitles before exporting?
Yes. Every subtitle segment is editable. Click on any line to fix text, correct names or technical terms, or adjust wording. Your edits are reflected in the exported SRT/VTT file and in the burned-in video.
How is this different from YouTube auto-captions?
ClipUtils makes subtitles in seconds without uploading your video and without an account, while YouTube's auto-captions require uploading your video to YouTube and waiting for processing. You also get full font customization and can burn subtitles directly into the video for any platform — not just YouTube.
Is there a file size limit?
There is no hard file size limit since your video is processed on your device. Accurate mode takes up to 15 minutes of audio per video; longer videos are transcribed on your device. Very large files (over 500 MB) may be slow or cause memory issues depending on your device.
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