How to add captions to a video, burned in and word by word

Burned-in (open) captions are part of the picture: everyone sees them, in your style, on every platform. A caption file (closed captions, usually .srt) sits beside the video and the viewer’s player draws it, in the platform’s style, and they can switch it off.

For ads and short social video, burn them in: you control the look, and nothing depends on a player. Use a caption file where a platform asks for one, such as long-form YouTube.

Every finished ad and ad movie has a Captions button. Pick a colour, where the text sits on the frame (shown over the player as you move it), and whether each word lights up as it is said or the whole line shows at once. The words are the ones heard in the finished video, tidied against the script where they match.

It costs nothing. The video as it was is kept, so captions can be changed or taken off later.

For a video made anywhere else, up to 10 minutes long:

1. Upload it. make.ad transcribes it with timings.
2. Fix the words: names, brand spellings, numbers. Nothing is burned until you have read it.
3. Pick one of 12 looks (bold, classic, pop, highlight, clean, editorial and more), where it sits, and a shadow.
4. Burn them in and download the new video. It is priced as a small fee in credits, quoted first.

The Transcribe page is free: it turns a video or a recording of up to 60 minutes into text with timings, which you can save as plain text or as an .srt file for any player or platform that takes one.

• Keep them out of the bottom of a vertical frame, where TikTok and Reels put their buttons and the caption of the post.
• One short line at a time. Two lines of small text is a paragraph nobody reads.
• Contrast beats colour: white or yellow with an outline or a band works on any background.
• Word-by-word highlighting suits fast, punchy speech; a whole line suits calm narration.
• Read every caption once. A misspelt brand name is the mistake viewers remember.