Ultimate guide: How to add subtitles to a video

You want to watch a video, but have forgotten your earphones and are in a silent compartment or at work. Without subtitles you don’t understand what the video is about. In a world where most people watch videos on social media without sound, subtitling videos is essential. With subtitles, your video is more accessible and you create a greater range for your videos. In this video captioning guide, we’ll discuss the benefits of captioning, what a SRT file is, and how to caption videos on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Premiere Pro, and iMovie. 

Why you should subtitle videos

There are many reasons why video subtitling is of added value to the viewer and to any content creator or marketer. These are the biggest advantages of video subtitles:

• Reach more people: 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound 
• Videos with subtitles increase the viewing time by 12%
• Thanks to subtitles, viewers can focus better on a video
• Accents, terminology, names and concepts become better understood
• Videos become more accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing 
• Videos with subtitles are more searchable and score higher in search results
• Subtitles are easy to translate and generates international reach
• Reuse your subtitles for new content, blog article or example

How do I subtitle my videos?

You can add subtitles to your video in two ways:

1. Upload your video in the Triple8 editor and your video will be subtitled and translated automatically within 5 minutes. Edit the subtitles where needed and download your video with subtitles.
2. Manually add the SRT file to your video. This is usually done for videos where subtitles are optional and / or are offered in multiple languages. In the Triple8 editor it is also possible to only download the SRT file after uploading your video.

What is a SRT file?

SRT stands for SubRip and is a file in which subtitles are stored. This Subtitle file is indicated with a .srt file extension and only works in combination with a video. A SRT file is noted when and which text should be shown as subtitles in a video. 

When do I need a SRT file?

You need a SRT file if you want to add subtitles to your videos. In video editing programs such as iMovie and Premiere Pro, and on social media too, you can add subtitles to your video using SRT files. When using separate SRT files to subtitle your social videos, you are able to  add subtitles in multiple languages. This way, your subtitles don’t have to be rendered in your videos.

Later in this guide we explain how to import a SRT file into Premiere Pro and iMovie.

How do I add subtitles to my Facebook video?

If you have the SRT file of your subtitles, you can easily add subtitles to your Facebook video. 

1. Post a new video or go to an existing video on your Facebook page 
2. Click on the [three dots] and choose “edit video” (for new videos you have to wait until the video is ready to view)
3. Go to Captions and under Upload SRT files click on “choose file”
4. Click on “save”

Add multi-language subtitles to a Facebook video

Repeat steps 3 and 4 if you want to add multi-language subtitles to your video. Repeat until subtitles for each language have been added. 

Remove subtitles from my Facebook video

If you want to remove the subtitles from your Facebook video, do the following:

1. Open your video and click on “edit video” via the [three dots]
2. Go to Captions and click on [X] next to the SRT file to remove the subtitles

How do I add subtitles to my YouTube video

There are several ways to add subtitles to your Youtube video. The start is the same for each way:

1. Login to the Youtube Studio and go to Subtitles in the menu on the left
2. Select the video to which you want to add the subtitles 
3. Choose the language of the subtitles and click Add
4. Determine how you want to add the subtitles

• Upload a SRT file and choose “with timing” if you have created it with Triple8
• Automatic synchronization: Youtube chooses the timing for the text you entered
• Type the subtitles manually and determine the timing yourself
• Auto translate: Youtube subtitles and automatically translates the audio to text. Note: Youtube does this word for word and not in contextual sentences such as Triple8

Add subtitles in multiple languages to my Youtube video

Repeat steps 3 and 4 if you want to add subtitles in multiple languages to your Youtube video. Do this until subtitles for each language have been added.

Editing or removing subtitles from my Youtube video

If you want to edit or remove subtitles from your Youtube video, do the following:

1. Login to the Youtube Studio and go to subtitles in the menu on the left
2. Choose the video which you want to edit or delete the subtitles
3. Go to the desired language and click on Edit or the [three dots] to delete the subtitles

How do I add subtitles to my Instagram video?

Instagram doesn’t have an option to upload SRT files (yet). Nor does it have a feature that automatically adds subtitles to your video. If you want to post videos with subtitles on Instagram, the video must already have subtitles. Don’t worry if your video doesn’t already have one. This can be done quickly and very easily via Triple8. Upload your video in the Triple8 editor and download your video with subtitles within 5 minutes. Then post it on Instagram. And voila, your Instagram video has subtitles. 

How do I add subtitles to my TikTok video?

Also TikTok does not (yet) have an option to upload SRT files or a functionality that automatically generates subtitles. The same applies to TikTok as to Instagram: if you want to post a video with subtitles. The same applies to TikTok as to Instagram: if you want to post a video with subtitles, upload a video that already has subtitles in the video. Triple8 does that for you within 5 minutes. Upload your video, give it 5 minutes and then download the video with subtitles. Post it on TikTok and your video will have subtitles.

How do I add subtitles to my LinkedIn video?

To add subtitles to your LinkedIn video you need a SRT file.

1. Post a new video and after uploading click on “edit”
2. Click on “select subtitle” and select the SRT file
3. Click on “done”

After the video has been uploaded, you will receive a notification. The subtitles can be seen when you click on “CC” at the bottom right of the video.  

How do I add subtitles to my Premiere Pro video?

In Premiere Pro you can add subtitles to your video in two ways:

1. Type and time the subtitles yourself, or
2. Upload an automatically generated SRT file via Triple8 and import it into Premiere Pro

Adding subtitles manually in Premiere Pro

Follow the steps below to manually type and time the subtitles in your Premiere Pro video:

1. Open your video in Premiere Pro
2. Click on “New item”, then on “Subtitles” and choose “Open Captions”
3. Drag the Open Captions to your timeline and extend the bar where necessary
4. Double click on Open Captions and adjust the text in the Captions tab
5. Click on + for another text block

No time to manually create your subtitles in Premiere Pro? Upload your video in the Triple8 editor and generate the SRT file of your video automatically within 5 minutes. You can import this into Premiere Pro via the steps below. 

Import your SRT file into Premiere Pro

If you have the SRT file of the subtitles, you have added the subtitles to your video within 1 minute in Premiere Pro. Here’s how:

1. Open your video in Premiere Pro
2. Go to “File”, choose “Import..” and click on the SRT file
3. Drag the file from the Project to the timeline and place the subtitles at the right timing to correspond with the audio

Editing subtitles in Premiere Pro

Do you want to edit the subtitles? In Premiere Pro you can easily edit the text and style of your subtitles:

1. Open the video in Premiere Pro
2. Double click on the subtitle bar and adjust the text in the Captions tab
3. Edit the font, color and style of the subtitles as desired in this tab

How do I add subtitles to my iMovie video?

It is not possible to upload a SRT file into iMovie. Even Though iMovie doesn’t have a subtitle feature it is still possible to manually add subtitles to your iMovie project. It is time consuming though. It saves you a lot of work if you already have a SRT file. Don’t have one yet? Create one within 5 minutes in the Triple8 editor. 

Manually add and edit subtitles in iMovie

1. Open your project in iMovie
2. Go to Titles and choose the “default lower third” title
3. Adjust the title style
4. Insert the text and adjust the visibility on the audio (in your SRT file you can find the text and time of the subtitles per line)
5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 for each new sentence
6. Export your iMovie project as a video file. The subtitles are automatically rendered in the video