How to add captions
to your clips.

Why clips need captions

People scroll on the bus, in bed and at work, where sound is off or low. Stream audio makes it harder: game sound, music and two people talking over each other. Captions keep the clip readable either way.

They also make your clips usable for deaf and hard of hearing viewers. TikTok's announcement of its auto captions says exactly that. YouTube's Shorts guide suggests overlaying text or adding captions too.

You will see big percentages online about how many people watch muted. None of the platforms we checked publishes one official number for short videos, so we won't quote one.

Burned-in vs platform captions

There are two kinds:

• Platform captions are a text layer the app shows on top of your video. TikTok and YouTube both make them automatically from the speech, and viewers can switch them on or off. They are free and easy, but the app decides how they look.
• Burned-in captions are part of the picture. They show for everyone, look the same on TikTok, Shorts and Reels, and you choose the font, size and position. The catch: you can't fix a typo after posting.

For stream clips, burned-in usually wins, because you post the same file to three apps and want it readable in the first second. Big text, two to four words at a time, placed above the app's buttons at the bottom.

TikTok's auto captions

Per TikTok's help center:

1. Tap the Add post (+) button.
2. Record or upload your clip and go to the preview screen.
3. Tap Captions on the side panel. The speech is turned into text automatically. The first time, TikTok asks you to opt in.
4. Preview and edit each line, then tap Save.

Always check names, gamer tags and slang. Speech tools get those wrong most often.

YouTube automatic captions

YouTube uses speech recognition to make captions for uploaded videos and live streams. If they are available, they are published on the video automatically, but they may not be ready right when you upload. YouTube warns that quality varies: accents, mispronunciations and background noise can all throw them off. Automatic captions for live streams are English only.

To check and fix them: sign in to YouTube Studio, select Subtitles in the left menu, and click the video.

Burn them in with CapCut

Per CapCut's help pages:

• Phone: import the clip into a new project, tap Captions in the bottom menu, choose Auto captions, confirm the language and tap Generate. Tap any caption to edit the text, timing or look.
• Computer: open the project, click Captions in the left toolbar, click Auto captions, pick the audio source and language, then Generate.

Export the clip and post that file everywhere. Instagram also has its own caption settings for reels in the mobile app, but a burned-in file saves you doing it three times.

Where ReelShift fits

ReelShift burns word-synced captions into every clip it makes, on the vertical 9:16 version, so the file is ready for TikTok, Shorts and Reels without an editor. Like any auto captions, give them a quick read before you post. See the live stream clipper.