Facebook video captions: add them free, burned in or as an SRT
Facebook takes a SubRip (.srt) caption file for a video you have posted, from a computer, and a Page can have its captions generated automatically. Those are closed captions that viewers switch on or off. Captions burned in are part of the picture: every viewer sees them, and they go wherever the file goes. Burncaps makes both free in your browser, the captioned MP4 and the SRT, and the video is never uploaded to us. Meta's own steps, read on its help centre on 3 November 2026, are below.
- Video never uploaded
- Free, no sign-up
- No watermark
Live preview, rendered on this page by the same engine that burns your video.
Add captions to a Facebook video, Meta's way
Meta's help gives two routes. On a video you posted to your profile, you upload a SubRip (.srt) file on a computer. On a video you post to a Page, you can also have the captions generated automatically and edit them. Since September 2025, Meta says, every video posted to Facebook is shared as a reel, whatever its length or shape.
Upload an SRT to a video on your profile, on a computer
- Post the video as usual: click Photo/video, then Add photos/videos, choose it and click Post. Facebook tells you when it is ready to view.
- Find the video on your timeline or Feed, click Options in the top right, then Edit post.
- Click Edit from composer, then Add captions.
- Click Upload next to Upload captions, choose the .srt file from your computer, then click Save.
For captions in another language, Meta says to repeat the upload for each one. To remove a file, open the same Add captions screen and click Delete next to it. Meta's page says this feature is not available on the iPhone app.
On a Page: auto-generate captions, or upload an SRT
- Click What's on your mind at the top of your feed, then Photo/Video, and choose the video from your computer.
- Once it has uploaded, click Next.
- Click Closed captions on the left, then choose to auto-generate captions or upload an .srt file.
- Click Next, then Post. For a video already on the Page, open the post's Options, choose Edit Post and follow the same steps.
Meta notes that people who watch a Page's video with the sound off see its captions automatically, people with the sound on turn them on themselves, and the caption language follows each viewer's preferred language.
Name and check the SRT file
- Name it filename.[language code]_[country code].srt, the language in lower case and the country in upper case. Meta's example for United States English is filename.en_US.srt.
- Number every caption, starting with 1.
- Write every time in full, as hh:mm:ss,fff with the leading zeros, like 01:09:05,050.
- Save the file as UTF-8 text.
A Burncaps SRT is numbered from 1, writes every digit of each time and is saved as UTF-8. It is named after your video, so rename it to Meta's pattern before you upload it.
How viewers switch captions on
- On a computer: click your profile picture, then Settings & privacy, Settings and Media, and turn on Always Show Captions. Meta says this applies only to videos watched on a computer.
- On an iPhone, Meta points to the phone's own settings: Settings, Accessibility, Subtitles & Captioning, then Closed Captions + SDH.
- While watching a reel, click Closed captions to turn them on and pick the language. If a reel has no captions, the button is not there.
Where these steps come from
Meta's own help centre, all read on 3 November 2026: Add or remove captions on your video, Add captions to your Page's video, the naming convention for .srt files, problems adding captions to a reel, Turn captions on for videos and translated captions for reels. Facebook changes often, so a button may have moved since; the names above are the ones its help used that day.
Facebook's own captions, or captions burned in
| What matters | Facebook's own captions | Burned in with Burncaps |
|---|---|---|
| Where they are made | On Facebook after you post (an .srt you upload), or automatically for a Page's video | In your browser, drawn into the picture of a new MP4 before you post |
| Who sees them | Viewers whose settings or choice show captions; on a Page, Meta says sound-off viewers see them automatically | Every viewer, with the sound on or off, whatever their settings |
| The same video elsewhere | The captions stay on Facebook; your own file has none | The same captions everywhere, because they are in the file: on a download, a repost, Reels, TikTok or Shorts |
| The look | Facebook's caption style; each viewer can change the colour, size and background in their own settings | Animated word by word, in 60 styles, at the position and size you choose |
| From a phone | Meta's page says adding captions to your video is not available on the iPhone app | Works in a phone's browser; post the MP4 from the app as usual |
| Fixing a word | Edit the .srt and upload it again, or edit a Page's auto captions | Click a word to correct it, and one click fixes every other place it was heard |
| Price | Free on Facebook | 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. |
When Facebook's own captions are enough
If the video goes only to Facebook and you want captions viewers can switch off, the .srt upload or a Page's auto captions are free. Burned-in captions are worth the extra minute when the captions are part of the look, when you post from the app on a phone, or when the same video also goes to Reels, TikTok, Shorts or a client.
Make the captions free, burned in or as an SRT
Drop the video
MP4 or MOV, straight from your phone or camera. It opens in this page and is never uploaded to us, which you can check in a computer browser's network tab while it works.
Correct the words
Every word is timed to the voice. Click one to correct it, and one click fixes every other place it was heard, so names and slang are right before anyone reads them.
Export the MP4, or the SRT
Pick one of 60 styles and export an MP4 with the captions in the picture, then post it to Facebook as usual. Or press SRT for a caption file for Facebook's own upload: free without limit for videos up to ten minutes.
If you burn the captions in, do not also upload an .srt or turn on a Page's auto captions for the same post, or viewers with captions on read the words twice.
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, ready for Facebook Reels. 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
How do I add captions to a Facebook video?
On a computer, post the video, then on the post click Options, Edit post, Edit from composer and Add captions, click Upload next to Upload captions, choose a SubRip (.srt) file and click Save. These are Meta's own steps, read on its help centre on 3 November 2026. Or burn the captions into the video before you post it, so they are part of the picture.
Does Facebook have auto captions?
For a Page, yes: Meta's help says that when you post a video to a Page on a computer you can choose Closed captions, then auto-generate captions and edit them, or upload an .srt file. It also says some reels have automatically generated captions, translated into other languages, and that a reel's creator can decide whether captions are on by default.
What should the SRT file be called for Facebook?
Meta's help gives the pattern filename.[language code]_[country code].srt, with the language in lower case and the country in upper case: a United States English file is filename.en_US.srt. A Burncaps SRT is named after your video, so rename it to that pattern before you upload it.
Can I add captions in the Facebook app on my phone?
Meta's help page for adding captions to your video gives the steps for a computer and says the feature is not available on the iPhone app. Captions burned into the video need no Facebook step at all: export the captioned MP4 in your phone's browser and post it from the app as usual.
How do viewers turn captions on for Facebook videos?
On a computer: profile picture, Settings & privacy, Settings, then Media, and turn on Always Show Captions. On an iPhone, Meta's help points to the phone's own Settings: Accessibility, Subtitles & Captioning, then Closed Captions + SDH. While watching a reel that has captions, the Closed captions button turns them on and picks the language.
Why burn captions into a Facebook video?
Burned-in captions are part of the picture, so every viewer sees them, with the sound on or off, whatever their caption settings, and they stay on a download, a repost and in any other app. Burncaps draws animated word-by-word captions into a new MP4 in your browser, in 60 styles. Free is 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up.
Is my video uploaded to Burncaps?
No. Burncaps opens the video in your browser and never receives it; you upload the finished video to Facebook yourself. On a computer, English is heard on your own device unless you choose our speech service; on a phone the sound goes to our speech service unless you switch it off (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.