How to Add Subtitles to a Video (Free, Step by Step)

Why add subtitles?

Most people watch video on mute — feeds autoplay silently, and viewers scroll past anything they can't follow without sound. Subtitles fix that, make your content accessible, and hand search engines text to index. The good news: you don't need expensive software or a manual transcription service.

Step 1: Get a transcript of the audio

Subtitles are just timestamped text, so the first step is a transcript. Paste your video's link or upload the file into Scriptery — or start from a platform-specific page like the YouTube transcript generator or video-to-text for uploads. You'll get an accurate, timestamped transcript in seconds, no account needed.

Step 2: Export SRT or VTT

Once the transcript is ready, export it as a subtitle file:

• SRT — works in almost every video editor and player. Choose this for editing software or general uploads.
• VTT — the web standard, required for subtitles on HTML5 <video>. Choose this for websites.

Not sure which you need? See our guide on SRT vs VTT. If you already have one format and need the other, use the free SRT to VTT or VTT to SRT converters — they run in your browser, nothing is uploaded.

Step 3: Attach the subtitle file

• YouTube — in YouTube Studio, open the video → Subtitles → add the SRT file.
• Video editors (Premiere, Final Cut, DaVinci, CapCut) — import the SRT/VTT as a captions/subtitle track.
• Websites — reference the VTT file with a <track kind="subtitles"> element inside your <video> tag.

Tips

• Proofread names and jargon — speech recognition is accurate but not perfect on unusual proper nouns.
• Keep lines short — two lines per cue max reads best on screen.
• Burned-in vs. soft subtitles — SRT/VTT are "soft" (toggleable). To permanently burn them into the picture, import the file into a video editor and render.

Start now: paste a link or upload your video on Scriptery and export SRT or VTT in seconds.