Free automatic subtitles for DaVinci Resolve
When Blackmagic added subtitles made from the speech in DaVinci Resolve 18.5, it listed them as a DaVinci Resolve Studio feature, the paid version. Here is a free way: export your edit, drop it on this page, correct the words and save an SRT file to import into your timeline. Or let Burncaps burn animated captions straight into the video. The video is never uploaded to us.
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
- SRT, VTT or burned in
Live preview, rendered on this page by the same engine that burns your video.
What DaVinci Resolve does with subtitles
Everything in this table is from Blackmagic Design's own pages, read on 3 November 2026, when the current version was DaVinci Resolve 21.
| What | What Blackmagic says |
|---|---|
| Subtitles made from the speech | Added in DaVinci Resolve 18.5 as "subtitles from audio in Studio", started with Create Subtitles from Audio in the timeline menu (announcement of 16 April 2023) |
| What DaVinci Resolve Studio adds | Everything in the free version plus the DaVinci AI Neural Engine, more Resolve FX, temporal and AI spatial noise reduction, text based editing, magic mask, film grain, optical blur and more (the DaVinci Resolve page) |
| Subtitle files it imports | SRT, TTML, XML and embedded MXF/IMF subtitles (the edit page) |
| Where imported subtitles go | On a track above your video tracks, where they can be moved and trimmed like any other media; you can keep a track per language |
| Styling them | In the Inspector: track styles, font, colour, size, position and more |
| Getting them out | Rendered into the final video, or exported as separate TTML, SRT or VTT files |
Is importing an SRT free?
Blackmagic's list of what DaVinci Resolve Studio adds does not name subtitle import, but the list ends "and more", so it is not complete, and we have not tested the import in DaVinci Resolve ourselves. If the import works in your copy, the SRT route costs nothing. If it does not, the second way below needs nothing from DaVinci Resolve but a video file: Burncaps burns the captions into it. Sources: Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve page, its edit page and its DaVinci Resolve 18.5 announcement, all read on 3 November 2026.
Make the SRT free, then import it into DaVinci Resolve
In DaVinci Resolve
- Export the finished edit as a video file, an MP4 or a MOV. Blackmagic's pages name two ways: Quick Export in the File menu, and the Deliver page for every setting.
In Burncaps, in your browser
- Drop the file on this page. Burncaps hears it and writes every word as a script under the player.
- Click any word to correct it, and one click changes it everywhere it was heard. Type names, brands and jargon in Names to spell right and our AI spells them right in the script (only the text goes).
- Press SRT. Each subtitle is timed to the voice, up to two lines of 42 characters, and never runs across a sentence.
Back in DaVinci Resolve
- Import the SRT file. Blackmagic's edit page lists SRT among the subtitle files DaVinci Resolve imports.
- The subtitles sit on a track above your video. Select them and change the font, colour, size and position in the Inspector.
- When you deliver, render them into the video, or export them as an SRT or VTT file beside it.
The menu names in DaVinci Resolve are Blackmagic's to change; its manual gives the exact steps for your version.
Make the SRT from the finished edit
An SRT made from the exported edit follows your cut. One made from a raw clip follows only that clip, and its lines land at the wrong moments once the clip is trimmed. If every line is late or early by the same amount, move the whole subtitle track until the first line meets the first word.
Or burn the captions in with Burncaps
Export from DaVinci Resolve
An MP4 or MOV of the finished edit, up to ten minutes. It opens in this page and is never uploaded to us, which you can check in your browser's network tab while it works.
Pick a style
Animated word-by-word captions in 60 styles, each word timed to the voice. Change the font, the colours, the size and where they sit, then check every word in the script.
Export the MP4
The captions are drawn into the picture of a new MP4. On a computer the whole video keeps its own resolution, and an AAC sound track, the usual kind in an MP4, is copied as it was.
| What matters | DaVinci Resolve Studio's subtitles from audio | An SRT from Burncaps, imported | Captions burned in by Burncaps |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you need | DaVinci Resolve Studio, the paid version | A copy of DaVinci Resolve that imports SRT files | Any copy that exports a video file |
| Where the words are made | Inside DaVinci Resolve Studio | In your browser, or on our speech service: on a phone unless you switch it off, on a computer only if you choose it | The same as the SRT |
| Fixing a word | In DaVinci Resolve | Click a word in the script; one click fixes every other place it was heard | The same, before you export |
| The look | Styled in the Inspector | Styled in the Inspector | Animated word by word, in 60 styles |
| Length | Your timeline | Up to three hours; up to ten minutes free without limit | Up to ten minutes |
Where the words go
The video stays in your browser. On a computer, English is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service, which is also offered for other languages and for recordings over ten minutes; on a phone the sound goes to our speech service unless you keep it on the phone. The service gets short pieces of sound, never the picture, and passes them to Microsoft's speech recognition in the EU, which by Microsoft's terms for the service stores none of it. The script's text leaves your device only if you type names to spell right, choose a translation or choose Clips (it then goes to our AI); ticking Keep everything on this device stops that. Transcribe a video without uploading it shows how to check every request yourself.
Shorts from the same edit
Drop the long version of your edit and choose Clips: Burncaps finds the moments worth posting and gives them back as ranked, captioned 9:16 clips, each with ums and dead air removed. 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.
What it costs
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.
Up to ten minutes, a recording's text and subtitle files are free, as often as you like. A longer one, up to three hours and 10 GB, gives its first ten minutes free, and all of it as one of your free videos (2 every 30 days), in the 7-day Captions + Clips trial (free, no card) or on a paid plan.
Questions, answered plainly
Does the free version of DaVinci Resolve have auto subtitles?
When Blackmagic Design added subtitles made from audio in DaVinci Resolve 18.5, its announcement of 16 April 2023 listed them as a DaVinci Resolve Studio feature, the paid version. Its DaVinci Resolve page, read on 3 November 2026 for version 21, lists text based editing among what DaVinci Resolve Studio adds to the free version. For a free route, make an SRT file of your edit with Burncaps and import it, or burn the captions into the video.
How do I add subtitles in DaVinci Resolve for free?
Export your finished edit as an MP4 or MOV and drop it on burncaps.app. Burncaps hears it in your browser and writes every word as a script; correct any word with a click, then press SRT. Import the SRT file into DaVinci Resolve, where the subtitles sit on a track above your video, and style them in the Inspector. Subtitle files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes, with no sign-up.
How do I import an SRT file into DaVinci Resolve?
Blackmagic's edit page says DaVinci Resolve imports SRT, TTML, XML and embedded MXF/IMF subtitle files, and that subtitles sit on a track above your video tracks, where they can be moved and trimmed like any other media. Their font, colour, size and position change in the Inspector. Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve manual gives the menu steps for your version.
Can DaVinci Resolve burn subtitles into the video?
Yes. Blackmagic's edit page says subtitles can be rendered into the final video or exported as separate TTML, SRT or VTT files. Burncaps can also burn captions in for you, animated word by word in 60 styles, for a video up to ten minutes.
Why do my imported subtitles show at the wrong time?
Usually because the SRT was made from a different file than the timeline: a raw clip instead of the finished edit. Make the SRT from the exported edit, so its times follow your cut. If every line is late or early by the same amount, move the whole subtitle track until the first line meets the first word.
How long can the recording be?
Up to ten minutes, a recording's text and subtitle files are free, as often as you like. A longer one, up to three hours and 10 GB, gives its first ten minutes free, and all of it as one of your free videos (2 every 30 days), in the 7-day Captions + Clips trial (free, no card) or on a paid plan.
Is Burncaps a DaVinci Resolve plug-in?
No. Burncaps is a separate tool that runs in your browser, and it is not made by or connected with Blackmagic Design. You move the files yourself: a video out of DaVinci Resolve, and an SRT file or a captioned MP4 back in.
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.