Why do social videos need subtitles?
Because a lot of people watch with the sound off, and a video they can't follow is a video they scroll past. Subtitles also make your content accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and they help anyone watching somewhere noisy.
There's a practical benefit too. Captions give viewers a second way in: they read the opening line while the hook plays. On ads, that can be the difference between a viewer staying and swiping.
Should you use burned-in subtitles or closed captions?
For Reels, TikTok and Shorts, burn them in. For YouTube long-form and LinkedIn, upload a caption file as well, so viewers can switch them on and the platform can read the text.
- Burned-in (open) subtitles are part of the picture. They look exactly as you designed them, on every device, but can't be turned off or corrected after export.
- Closed captions are a separate file, usually SRT, uploaded with the video. Viewers can turn them on or off, and you can fix a typo without re-exporting. YouTube, Meta ads and LinkedIn accept SRT files.
- Many brands do both on ads: styled captions burned in, plus an SRT file where the placement accepts one.
Are automatic captions good enough?
They're a good first draft, not a finished job. Instagram, TikTok and YouTube can all generate captions automatically, and they're often close. They still get names, place names, product names, numbers and accents wrong, and a wrong word in a caption looks careless.
Use the automatic version to save typing, then read every line against the audio before you post.
How do you add subtitles to social video, step by step?
This is how we caption every edit.
- Lock the edit first. Captioning before the cut is final means doing it twice.
- Generate a transcript, from your editing software or the platform's auto captions.
- Correct every word against the audio, including names, numbers and technical terms.
- Split the text into short lines that follow natural pauses in speech, two lines at most on screen.
- Time each line so it appears as the words are spoken and stays long enough to read.
- Style it: one clear sans-serif font, a size that reads on a phone, and strong contrast with a shadow or a box behind the text.
- Place it in the middle band of the frame, inside the platform's safe zone.
- Export the video with captions burned in, and an SRT file for platforms that accept one.
- Watch it on a phone with the sound off. If it makes sense, it's done.
How should subtitles look on a phone?
Readable at a glance, and never in the way. The small screen is the test, so check there, not on your editing monitor.
- Use one font, with clear letters. Thin or decorative fonts are hard to read over moving footage.
- Make sure the text stands out from every shot. White text with a dark outline or shadow, or text in a solid box, works on almost anything.
- Use sentence case. Long lines in capitals are harder to read.
- Highlight one or two key words per line if you like, but not every word.
- Keep captions off the speaker's face and away from on-screen headlines.
Do subtitles help accessibility rules?
Yes. The web accessibility guidelines most organisations follow (WCAG) expect captions on prerecorded video with sound, and public sector bodies in the UK have to meet accessibility regulations based on them. Even if those rules don't apply to you, accurate captions are simply good manners to viewers who rely on them.
What subtitle mistakes should you avoid?
The most common ones are easy to fix.
- Typos and wrong words left in from auto captions.
- Text sitting under the app's buttons or caption.
- Three or four lines on screen at once.
- Captions that run ahead of or behind the speaker.
- Burned-in captions plus the platform's auto captions, so the text appears twice.