The best font for subtitles and captions, shown live
The best font for subtitles is a plain sans serif with clear letters, in white, with a dark outline, shadow or box behind it so it reads on any picture. The BBC's guidelines say to author subtitles in a wide sans serif such as Verdana, and Netflix's English guide names Arial as its placeholder, both with white letters. Below, eight free caption fonts are drawn live by the engine that burns your video, and you can try any of them on your own video free.
The video never leaves your browser. On a computer, the sound is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service; on a phone, it goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone. The service gets short pieces of sound, never the picture.
- Video never uploaded
- Free, no sign-up
- No watermark
- Eight free fonts
Live preview, rendered on this page by the same engine that burns your video: one style for each of the eight fonts.
What the subtitle guidelines say about fonts
Two public subtitle guides, the BBC's and Netflix's, agree on the basics: a plain sans serif, white letters, short lines and a size set by the frame. Here is what each says, read on 3 November 2026.
| What it covers | BBC Subtitle Guidelines | Netflix English (USA) Timed Text Style Guide |
|---|---|---|
| The font | Author subtitles in a wide font such as Reith Sans, Verdana or Tiresias, so a line still fits when a player draws it in a narrower font such as Arial. The font shown is decided by the platform, the delivery and the player. | Arial, as a generic placeholder for a proportional sans serif |
| Colour | Most subtitles are "white text on a black background", for legibility | White |
| Size | A line height of 7% to 8% of the video's height for 16:9, 4:3 and square video; 3.9% to 4.5% for vertical 9:16 video | Set by the video's resolution and the need to fit 42 characters across the screen |
| Line length | Online, up to 68% of the width of a 16:9 video and 90% of a 9:16 one; as a guide, about 25 characters across 90% of a vertical frame | 42 characters a line |
| Lines | Two at most for landscape or square video, three at most for vertical 9:16 video | Two at most, and one where the words fit |
Where this comes from
The BBC Subtitle Guidelines (the version dated March 2026) and Netflix's English (USA) Timed Text Style Guide, both read on 3 November 2026. Both are written for subtitles that viewers can switch on and off. Their rules of contrast and line length are a good start for burned-in captions too, which short videos usually set bigger and bolder.
Eight free caption fonts, drawn live
These are the eight fonts Burncaps draws captions in. Each card is one of its styles, drawn on this page by the same caption engine that burns your video, never a picture of one. All eight are free fonts under the SIL Open Font License.
| Font | How it looks | Weights in our styles | Some styles that use it | Its own project |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inter | A plain, even sans serif | 400 to 900 | Clean, Subtitle, Lower Third, Karaoke, Boxed | rsms/inter |
| Montserrat | A wide geometric sans serif | 700 to 900 | Keyword, Pop, Impact, Underline, Tidy | JulietaUla/Montserrat |
| Archivo Black | One very heavy weight with wide letters | One weight | Beast, Block, Headline, Gold, Ticket | Omnibus-Type/ArchivoBlack |
| Anton | Tall and condensed, so more letters fit across a line | One weight | Tall, Shout, Poster, Stack | googlefonts/AntonFont |
| Poppins | A round geometric sans serif | 600 and 800 | Lime, Ink, Warm, Lyric, Marker | itfoundry/Poppins |
| TikTok Sans | A sans serif made by TikTok and released as an open font | 600 to 900 | Native, Loud, Bubble, Ocean | tiktok/TikTokSans |
| Bangers | Comic-book lettering, in capitals in every style that uses it | One weight | Comic, Bounce, Neon, Arcade, Sticker | googlefonts/bangers |
| Instrument Serif | A condensed serif, in its italic | One weight | Serif, Quote, Vogue, Letter, and the key word in Editorial | Instrument/instrument-serif |
Getting the fonts themselves
To use one of these fonts in another app, get it from its own project, linked above; each project gives its licence. In Burncaps you install nothing: the page loads the fonts itself, and the licence of every caption font we serve is published with them.
Which font for which video
| The video | What reads best | Try in Burncaps |
|---|---|---|
| A talk, lesson, interview or film, with full sentences | A plain sans serif in sentence case, white with a thin dark outline or a box, two lines at most | Subtitle (Inter, smaller, with a thin dark outline) or Lower Third (Inter on a see-through dark bar) |
| A short vertical video for TikTok, Reels or Shorts | A heavy sans serif, often in capitals, with a thick outline, a few words at a time | Keyword (Montserrat), Beast (Archivo Black) or Native (TikTok Sans in a white box) |
| Long words on a narrow frame | A condensed face, so a word does not have to break across lines | Tall or Shout (Anton) |
| A quote, a story or a calm talk | A serif italic, kept to a few large words at a time | Serif or Quote (Instrument Serif) |
| Something playful | Comic-book capitals with a thick outline | Comic or Bounce (Bangers) |
What makes any font read well as a caption
Contrast first: light letters need a dark edge, an outline, a shadow or a box, or they vanish on a bright sky or a white wall. Then size: the guidelines above tie it to the frame, and on a phone the captions are seen small. Then length: one or two short lines, so the eye takes a caption in before it changes. Case matters too: the BBC's guidelines note that a lot of text in capitals is hard to read, so capitals suit two or three words at a time, and full sentences read better in ordinary upper and lower case. A font with very thin strokes, or an ornate script, is harder still at that size.
Change the font of any style
Pick a style
Drop your video and pick from 60 styles in five families: Bold, Minimal, Karaoke, Boxed and Script. Every style is included in every video, free or paid.
Make it your own
Under the styles, Make it your own sets the font (any of the eight, each at its own weight), capitals, as said or lower case, an outline (none, thin or thick) and its colour, the shadow, and how the word being said moves.
Size and words
Size goes from 55% to 160% of the style's own, one to six words show at a time, and you drag the captions where you want them. Save the look as your own style; it stays in this browser.
A subtitle file has no font
An SRT or VTT file holds the words and their times. The player that shows it chooses the font, which is why the BBC's guidelines leave the final font to the platform and the player. To choose the font yourself, burn the captions into the picture: they then look the same on every app and every screen. Burncaps does both, and its SRT and VTT files keep each subtitle to two lines of up to 42 characters, the same numbers as Netflix's English guide. The SRT file format, explained and burning subtitles into a video say more.
Try a font on your own video
Drop a video, pick a style and change its font in the editor. Animated word-by-word captions are burned into a new MP4 in your browser, free for 2 videos every 30 days with no watermark.
A long video? Get the clips too
From a podcast, a stream or a talk, Burncaps finds the moments worth posting and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips, in the same styles and fonts. Every clip of the whole recording is found and shown, free and with no sign-up; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and the 7-day trial and Captions + Clips export every clip, unlimited. Long video to Shorts and the free AI clip generator say more.
Free: 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up. Then try Captions + Clips free for 7 days, no card. Captions + Clips is $29 a month for unlimited clips and captions; Captions is $9.98 a month or $49 once.
Questions, answered plainly
What is the best font for subtitles?
A plain sans serif with clear letters, in white, with a dark outline, shadow or box behind it, in no more than two lines. The BBC's subtitle guidelines say to author subtitles in a wide font such as Reith Sans, Verdana or Tiresias, and Netflix's English (USA) style guide names Arial as a placeholder for a sans serif, in white. Among free fonts, Inter and Montserrat are plain and clear, and all eight on this page are free to use in Burncaps.
What font does Netflix use for subtitles?
Netflix's English (USA) Timed Text Style Guide, read on 3 November 2026, names Arial as a generic placeholder for a proportional sans serif, in white, at a size that fits 42 characters across the screen, with at most two lines.
What font does the BBC use for subtitles?
The BBC's Subtitle Guidelines (the version dated March 2026, read 3 November 2026) say to author subtitles in a wide font such as Reith Sans, Verdana or Tiresias, so a line still fits when a player draws it in a narrower font such as Arial. They say the font shown is decided by the platform, the delivery and the player, and that most subtitles are white text on a black background.
What is the best font for TikTok, Reels and Shorts captions?
One that stays readable at phone size over a moving picture: a heavy sans serif with a thick outline or a box behind it. In Burncaps that is Montserrat in the Keyword and Impact styles, Archivo Black in Beast and Block, Anton in Tall and Shout, or TikTok Sans in Native, which looks like the text box the apps make themselves. Try them on your own video free.
What size should subtitles be?
The BBC's guidelines set the line height at 7% to 8% of the video's height for 16:9, 4:3 and square video, and 3.9% to 4.5% for vertical 9:16 video. Netflix sizes its subtitles to fit 42 characters across the screen. In Burncaps the captions scale with the frame, so the export matches the preview, and the Size control goes from 55% to 160% of each style's own size.
Can I download these fonts?
All eight are free fonts under the SIL Open Font License, and each has its own project page, linked in the table on this page. You do not need to install any of them to use them in Burncaps: the page loads them itself.
Can I change the font of a caption style in Burncaps?
Yes. Under the styles, open Make it your own and pick any of the eight fonts, then the letters (capitals, as said or lower case), the outline and its colour, the shadow and how the word being said moves. Save the look as your own style; it stays in this browser. All of it is free.
Is my video uploaded?
No. Burncaps opens the video in your browser and never receives it. On a computer, the sound is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service; on a phone it goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone (short pieces of sound, never the picture, to Microsoft's speech recognition in the EU, which by Microsoft's terms for the service stores none of it).
Burncaps facts, checked 3 November 2026
What it is: a browser tool that burns animated word-by-word captions into a talking video, or finds the best moments of a talk, podcast or interview and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips.
Price: free for 2 videos every 30 days, each one recording with its captioned video and up to 3 clips, no mark and no sign-up; then the free 7-day Captions + Clips trial, no card (your email only); then Captions + Clips, $29 a month, gives unlimited clips and captioned videos, or Captions, $9.98 a month or $49 once, gives unlimited captioned videos. Captions paid once is not a subscription.
Privacy: the video never leaves your browser. The sound goes only to our speech service, on a phone unless you switch it off, on a computer only if you choose it. Because the video never reaches us, we cannot keep it or train AI on it, and we train no AI on anything you make.
Files: MP4 or MOV in, MP4 out. Captions on the whole video: up to ten minutes. Clips: up to three hours, on a phone or a computer. SRT, VTT, ASS and text files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes; a longer recording, up to three hours, gives its script and those files (the first ten minutes free, all of it as one of your free videos, in the trial or with Captions + Clips or Captions) and its clips (every one found and shown before you sign up; up to 3 from each free video exported free, every one in the trial or with Captions + Clips).
Clips: about one clip for every two minutes of talk, up to 30, ranked, the ones we would post first circled, each showing the words it opens and ends on and the reason it was chosen; each cut to 9:16 with ums and dead air removed, an opening card and captions, framed on whoever is talking. Every clip of the whole recording is found and shown, free and with no sign-up; each free video exports up to 3 of them, and the 7-day trial and Captions + Clips export every clip, unlimited.
Languages and styles: captions in the language spoken, twelve Indian languages heard on your device, translation into 59 languages, 60 caption styles.
After it listens: correct any word (one click changes it everywhere), add or cut words, one to six words at a time, position, size, text and highlight colours, and names this browser remembers, all free and without listening again.
Made by: Jordan Labs Ltd, UK company no. 17358646.
Against other tools: sixteen caption tools compared, from the vendors' own pages.