How to add captions on TikTok, step by step
TikTok can turn the speech in your video into captions you check before you post. Below are TikTok's own steps, read on its help centre on 2 November 2026, then what changes when the captions are burned into the picture: they show for every viewer and go wherever the file goes. Burncaps does that free in your browser, and the video is never uploaded to us.
- 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 in the TikTok app
TikTok's help names two kinds. Creator captions are the ones you add yourself with the Captions button and check line by line before you post. Auto-generated captions are made by TikTok's speech recognition for the videos you upload.
Creator captions, with the Captions button
- In the TikTok app, tap the Add post (+) button at the bottom.
- Record or upload a video, then go on to the preview screen.
- Tap Captions on the side panel. TikTok turns the speech in your video into text. The first time, it asks you to opt in to the feature.
- Check and edit each line in the preview, then tap Save.
TikTok's help says you can change the font style and colour of creator captions.
Auto-generated captions, and their language
TikTok's help says captions are generated automatically for videos you upload. To choose the language they are made in:
- On the post screen, tap More options.
- Tap Select video language and choose the language spoken in the video.
- Tap Post. TikTok shows auto-generated captions in that language on eligible videos.
Edit or remove them after posting
- In the TikTok app, go to your video with auto-generated captions.
- Tap the caption on the video, then tap Edit captions.
- Edit or remove any of the captions.
- Tap Save at the top.
How viewers switch them on or off
- On the post, tap the Share button at the side.
- Tap Captions at the bottom. You may need to scroll across to find it.
- Turn Show captions on or off.
TikTok notes that captions can be managed only on a post that has them.
Where these steps come from
TikTok's own help centre: Accessibility for your videos and Accessibility for watching videos, both read on 2 November 2026. TikTok changes its app often, so a button may have moved since; the names above are the ones its help used that day.
TikTok's own captions, or captions burned in
| What matters | TikTok's own captions | Burned in with Burncaps |
|---|---|---|
| Where they are made | In the TikTok app, after you record or upload | In your browser, drawn into the picture of a new MP4 before you post |
| Can a viewer switch them off? | Yes: Share, Captions, Show captions (TikTok's help) | No: they are part of the picture, so every viewer sees them |
| The same video posted to Reels or Shorts | Your own file has no captions: they were made inside TikTok, so you make them again in the other app | The same captions everywhere, because they are in the file: on a repost, a download and in any other app |
| The look | TikTok's caption style; TikTok's help says font style and colour can be changed | Animated word by word, in 60 styles, at the position and size you choose |
| Fixing a word | Edit each line in the app | Click a word to correct it, and one click fixes every other place it was heard |
| Language | The video language you choose on the post screen | The language spoken, with translation into 59 languages |
| Price | Free in the TikTok app | 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 TikTok's own captions are enough
If the video goes only to TikTok and you want captions viewers can switch off, TikTok's Captions button is free and quick. Burned-in captions are worth the extra minute when the captions are part of the look, or when the same video also goes to Reels, Shorts or a client.
Burn the captions in before you post to TikTok
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, then post
Pick one of 60 styles and export a vertical MP4 with the captions in the picture, then upload it to TikTok as usual. If TikTok also adds its own auto captions, remove them with Edit captions so the words do not show twice.
Ready to make them? Open the TikTok caption generator
It opens your video in this browser and burns animated word-by-word captions into it, 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, ready for TikTok. 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.
Editing TikTok captions after posting: which text?
TikTok's help calls the text you write under a post its description (Add description, on the post screen). Many searches for editing TikTok captions after posting are about that text, not the words on the video. The captions on the video itself can be edited after posting with Edit captions, in the steps above. Captions burned in with Burncaps are part of the picture, so to change a word after posting you export the video again and post the new file.
Questions, answered plainly
How do I add captions on TikTok?
In the TikTok app, tap the Add post (+) button, record or upload a video and go on to the preview screen, then tap Captions on the side panel. TikTok turns the speech in the video into text; check and edit each line, then tap Save. These are TikTok's own steps, read on its help centre on 2 November 2026.
Does TikTok have auto captions?
Yes. TikTok's help says captions are generated automatically for videos you upload, using speech recognition. You choose the language they are made in on the post screen: More options, then Select video language. Viewers can switch them on or off.
Can I edit TikTok captions after posting?
The captions on the video, yes: go to the video, tap the caption, tap Edit captions, change or remove any line and tap Save (TikTok's help, read 2 November 2026). If you mean the text you wrote under the post, TikTok's help calls that the description, which is a different thing from the captions.
Can viewers turn TikTok captions off?
Yes. On a post with captions, a viewer taps Share, then Captions, and turns Show captions on or off. Captions burned into the video with Burncaps are part of the picture, so they show for every viewer and cannot be switched off.
How do I make TikTok captions that stay on when the video is reposted?
Burn them into the video before you post. Burncaps draws animated word-by-word captions into a new MP4 in your browser, in 60 styles, so they stay on a repost, a download and in any other app. Free is 2 videos every 30 days, each with captions and up to 3 clips, no watermark, no sign-up.
What is the difference between text on screen and captions on TikTok?
TikTok's Text button on the side panel adds words you type and place yourself, and TikTok's text-to-speech can read that text aloud. Captions are the speech in the video turned into text. Burncaps makes captions from the speech and times every word to the voice.
Is my video uploaded to Burncaps?
No. Burncaps opens the video in your browser and never receives it; you upload the finished video to TikTok 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 2 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.