How to Add Subtitles to a Video

There are a few ways to add subtitles to a video, depending on what you already have. You might need to generate subtitles from scratch, or you might already have an SRT file and just need to attach or embed it.

Generate Subtitles with AI

If you do not have subtitles yet, the straightforward approach is to upload your video to an AI subtitle generator. The AI transcribes the audio and produces a timed subtitle file.

With Subtitling.net, uploading a video gives you:

• an SRT file with text and timecodes
• a video with burned-in subtitles

Processing takes roughly three times the video length. Once complete, you can download both files directly.

This approach applies real subtitling rules: line breaks at phrase boundaries, reading speed limits, and timing that follows spoken rhythm. That is different from platform auto-captions, which are generated from raw transcripts without those constraints.

Upload Your Own SRT File

If you already have an SRT file, you can skip generation and go straight to embedding.

Upload your video and your SRT file together, and the tool will burn the subtitles into the video for you. See burn subtitles into video for details on that workflow.

You can also upload your SRT to most video platforms (YouTube, Vimeo, and others) as a separate caption track, which keeps the subtitles as a soft overlay rather than permanently embedded.

Burn Subtitles Permanently into Video

Hardcoded subtitles are embedded directly into the video frames. They are always visible regardless of the platform or player, and cannot be turned off by the viewer.

This is useful when:

• you are sharing video on platforms that do not support subtitle tracks
• you want consistent display across different devices and players
• you need subtitles visible in reposts or embeds

The burn subtitles into video workflow handles this in one step, whether you are starting from your own SRT or from AI-generated subtitles.

Edit Before You Export

If you generate subtitles with AI, you may want to review and correct a few lines before exporting. Common edits include fixing a proper noun, adjusting a timecode, or splitting a subtitle that is too long.

See how to edit an SRT file for a walkthrough of the editing step.

What Kind of Subtitles Are You Adding?

If you are not sure whether you need subtitles or closed captions, that distinction matters for some platforms and workflows. See subtitles vs captions for a clear explanation of the difference.