YouTube subtitle generator: a free SRT file for YouTube Studio
Drop the video you are putting on YouTube and get subtitles timed to every word. Correct names and jargon with a click, save an SRT or VTT file, and upload it in YouTube Studio. Free up to ten minutes, no sign-up, and the video is never uploaded to us.
- Up to three hours
- Video never uploaded
- Free, no sign-up
- Audio files too
Live preview, rendered on this page by the same engine that burns your video.
Subtitles for YouTube in three moves
Drop the video
MP4 or MOV, the same file you upload to YouTube. 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. Click one to correct it, and one click fixes every other place it was heard: names, brands and jargon are right before YouTube shows them.
Save SRT, upload to YouTube
Save the SRT (or VTT) file, then in YouTube Studio: Subtitles, your video, Add language, Add, Upload file, With timing, Continue, choose the file, Save. Those are YouTube's own steps, read on YouTube Help on 2 November 2026.
What YouTube accepts
YouTube's help lists SubRip (.srt) and SubViewer (.sbv) as basic formats and WebVTT (.vtt) as an advanced one. For SRT and SBV it takes only basic files: plain UTF-8, no style markup. VTT may carry a position. Burncaps saves plain SRT and VTT with no style markup, so either goes straight in. (YouTube Help, read 2 November 2026.)
A file viewers switch on, or captions burned in
| What you want | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Subtitles on a normal YouTube video | The SRT or VTT file, uploaded in YouTube Studio | Viewers can switch them on or off, and you can add a file for each language |
| Your corrected words instead of YouTube's automatic captions | The SRT file | YouTube says its automatic captions are in the video's default language only, and they carry whatever the speech recognition heard |
| Shorts, clips, or a video that travels to other apps | Captions burned into the picture | They show everywhere, even where a subtitle file cannot follow: animated word by word, in 60 styles |
| The best moments of a long video as Shorts | Clips from the video | Ranked 9:16 clips with captions, from a file of up to three hours |
Long videos
Subtitle files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes. A longer YouTube video, up to three hours, gives its whole script and its SRT and VTT files 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; the first ten minutes are free either way. Subtitles for long videos says more.
Questions, answered plainly
Does YouTube accept SRT files?
Yes. YouTube's help lists SubRip (.srt) and SubViewer (.sbv) among its basic formats and WebVTT (.vtt) among its advanced ones. For SRT and SBV it supports only basic files, plain UTF-8 with no style markup (read on YouTube Help, 2 November 2026). Burncaps writes plain SRT and VTT with no style markup.
How do I add the subtitle file in YouTube Studio?
In YouTube Studio on a computer: Subtitles in the left menu, choose the video, Add language and pick it, then Add under Subtitles, Upload file, With timing, Continue, choose the file and Save. These are YouTube's own steps, read on YouTube Help on 2 November 2026.
YouTube makes automatic captions. Why upload my own?
YouTube's automatic captions are published when available and, in YouTube's words, are in the video's default language only. Your own file carries the words you corrected (names, brands, jargon) and can be in another language: Burncaps translates the lines into any of 59 languages, free, before you save the file.
Is it free, and how long can the video be?
Subtitle files are free without limit for recordings up to ten minutes, with no sign-up. A longer recording, up to three hours, gives its whole script and files 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; the first ten minutes are free either way.
Is my video uploaded to Burncaps?
No. Burncaps opens the video in your browser and never receives it; you upload it to YouTube 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).
Can I burn the captions into the video instead?
Yes. For Shorts, clips and anywhere a file cannot travel, Burncaps burns animated word-by-word captions into a new MP4, in 60 styles, free for 2 videos every 30 days with no watermark. For YouTube's own player, the uploaded file is better: viewers can switch it off, and you can add a file for each language.
Burncaps facts, checked 25 October 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.