How to add subtitles to a video automatically (step by step)

To add subtitles to a video, create a project in wawie's studio, import the video and place it on the timeline. Run automatic subtitles: the speech is transcribed and cut into lines timed to the word. Correct any wrong word, choose a caption style, then export an MP4 with the captions burned in, or an SRT file to upload to YouTube.

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Updated September 27, 2026

Many viewers watch video with the sound off, especially on phones, so captions often decide whether your message gets through. Writing and timing subtitles by hand takes far longer than the video itself. wawie's studio, its online video editor, does the slow part for you: it transcribes the speech, splits it into readable lines and times each one to the words. You correct names or jargon, choose a look and export.

Time needed: 15 min

What you need

A free wawie account
The video you want to caption
A few minutes to proofread

How do you add subtitles to a video, step by step?

Create a free wawie account: Sign up in your browser, with nothing to install and no card needed. The free plan includes 5,000 one-time credits, enough to caption a first short video and check the result. Transcription is billed on the length of the audio, and the cost is shown before you run it.
Create a project in the studio: Open your projects from the dashboard and create a new one. Choose the format that matches where you will publish: landscape for YouTube, portrait for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, or square for feeds. The project opens in the studio, wawie's online video editor.
Import your video onto the timeline: Drag your video file into the media panel. The upload to the cloud continues in the background while you work, so you can start right away. Then drag the video onto the timeline, where a track is created for it automatically.
Run automatic subtitles: Open the text tools and start automatic subtitles. Choose the spoken language or leave it on automatic detection, and pick short captions for social video or full lines for classic subtitling. The speech is transcribed and laid on a text track, timed to the word.
Proofread and correct the captions: Play the video and read along. Fix any name, brand or technical term the transcription got wrong. For a word that appears many times, use find and replace across all captions, and if every caption is slightly early or late, shift them all at once.
Choose a caption style: Pick a look from the ready-made caption styles, each animated and fully editable, and apply it to every caption at once. Add per-word animations such as karaoke or bounce if you want captions that follow the voice, and save your settings as a reusable style.
Fix captions that read too fast: Before exporting, the studio checks your edit and flags subtitles that go by too fast to read comfortably. One click stretches them into the silence that follows, without moving the start of any line, so viewers have time to read every caption.
Export the video or an SRT file: Export the finished video as an MP4 with the captions burned in, rendered on wawie's servers or directly in your browser. If you prefer to upload captions separately, for example to YouTube, export the subtitles as an SRT file instead.

How do you make subtitles easy to read?

Use short captions for TikTok, Reels and Shorts. A few words at a time are easier to follow on a phone screen than full lines that change every few seconds.
Keep captions clear of faces and on-screen text. Select all the subtitles and move them together on the picture when a title or a face sits where they appear.
Start from clean audio. If there is music or noise under the voice, isolate the voice first, because a clean track transcribes more accurately than a noisy one.
Translate captions to reach another audience. The studio can translate your subtitles onto a new track with the same timings, leaving the original track untouched.

Add automatic subtitles to your videos with wawie

Frequently asked questions

How accurate are automatic subtitles?

Clear speech transcribes with high accuracy, and each caption is timed to the words. Names, jargon, strong accents and people talking over each other are where any system slips, which is why every caption stays editable before export. In practice, you correct a handful of words instead of typing the whole transcript, and cleaning noisy audio first improves the result.

Can I export subtitles as an SRT file?

Yes. The studio exports your captions as an SRT file, which you can upload to YouTube or any platform that accepts subtitle files. You can also import an existing SRT or VTT file into a project to restyle it and burn it into the video. For TikTok or Instagram, burned-in captions are usually the simpler choice.

Can I translate subtitles into another language?

Yes. Once your captions exist, the studio can translate them into another language on a new track, with the same timings and the original track left untouched. That lets you publish one video with captions for several audiences. If you want the voice translated as well, wawie's dubbing tool re-voices the video in the target language.

How do I add captions to a TikTok or Reels video?

Create the project in portrait format, import your clip and run automatic subtitles with the short caption length, which shows a few words at a time. Pick an animated style, add per-word animations if you like, and move the captions clear of faces. Export the MP4 with captions burned in, ready to post on TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts.

Can I get a plain transcript instead of subtitles?

Yes. The speech to text tool in the dashboard turns an audio or video file into a plain transcript you can copy or download as a text file, with optional tags for audio events such as laughter or music. Use it for show notes, articles or meeting records, and use the studio when you need timed captions on the video itself.

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