How to Add Subtitles to Your Video Files on PC and Mac Computer
Last Updated on November 11, 2021 by Jane Joe
The subtitles are text derived from either a transcript or screenplay of the dialog in a video, movie, TV shows, anime, and more. Generally speaking, it is at the bottom of the video. It is hard to add subtitles to the video. Firstly, it provides the text-based representation of the conversation. When you have to watch the video without sound, subtitles deliver all information. More important, a video can contain more than one subtitles file, and each of them presents one language. Anyway, this guide will show you how to add subtitles to a video.
Part 1: Hard Subtitle V.S. Soft Subtitle
Before adding subtitles to a video, you should understand two concepts, hard subtitle, and soft subtitle. The former is a part of the video file that you cannot disable or hide when playback. The latter is an independent file or track. And you can decide to display or hide it while playing.
The downside of soft subtitles is that your player has to decode and render it over the video playback. It takes extra CPU power. Moreover, it won’t play if your media player does not support the format. That is why you have to convert soft subtitles into hard subtitles sometimes.
Part 2: The Best Method to Add Subtitles to A Video
If you want to add subtitles to a video, you will need a powerful tool. From this point, we recommend WidsMob Capture. It can apply hard subtitles to any videos include online files. Its main features include:
- Add subtitles to a video while recording it.
- Offer a wide range of custom options for subtitles.
- Enhance video quality using advanced technology.
- Share video clips to social media directly.
All in all, it is the easiest way to create hard subtitles for any video files easily.
How to Add Subtitles to a Video in Real Time
Step 1: Install subtitle software
Run the best subtitle tool once you install it on your computer. Then choose the Record Screen option to open the main interface. If you are an advanced user, go to the Preferences dialog and customize options related to hotkeys, recording, output, and more. Open the video that you want to edit in your media player. For online videos, you can find them in your web browser.
Step 2: Add subtitles to a video
Click the Record Area option in the main interface and set the recording region based on the video. If you wish to add your face to the video, turn on the Webcam option; otherwise, turn it off. Next, decide the audio source by hitting the Microphone option and adjust the volume until you are satisfied.
Hit the REC button and play the video file to begin recording it. Then you will get a toolbar. Click the Pen icon to unfold the toolbox, and choose the A icon. Set color, font, size, and more, click on the right side and enter the subtitles.
Step 3: Save and share video output
When adding subtitles to the video is done, click the Stop button. Then save the software to your hard drive. To quickly access it, go to the Media Library window. View the video and click the Share icon if you wish to share it on your social platform.
Part 3: How to Add Subtitles to YouTube Video
In most cases, you add subtitles to a video for sharing on YouTube. YouTube offers the capacity to apply subtitles within YouTube Editor.
Step 1: Sign in to your YouTube account in a browser, click your avatar and select YouTube Studio from the context menu. Next, choose Transcriptions from the left-hand column to get all your videos.
Step 2: Pick the video that you wish to edit. Then click the Arrow icon in the Language column, and choose Add. Then you will get three options and choose to Create new subtitles or CC.
Step 3: Now, type the subtitles into the box and click the Plus button. If the subtitle does not match the image, adjust it under the preview panel.
Step 4: Click the Publish button once the subtitles add to the video. Then you also need to click the CC button to turn on the subtitle. Unfortunately, you cannot change the color, size, position, and other options of the video subtitle.
Part 4: How to Add Subtitles to Facebook Video
Facebook is another popular social media platform. Recently, it released the video post. Now, a lot of users share videos on Facebook frequently. When uploading a video on Facebook, you can get the feature to add subtitles to the video.
Step 1: Visit Facebook in a browser and sign in to your account.
Step 2: Click the Photos/Video option at the bottom of Create Post box. Unlike YouTube, the subtitle feature is only available on Facebook when you make a new post.
Step 3: Choose Upload Photos/Video, find the video file on your computer, and upload it following the on-screen instructions. Then choose Subtitles and Captions on the right side.
Step 4: Next, enter the language for the video subtitles, and you will get three options, Auto-Generate, Write and Upload. The Write option allows you to start from a blank screen and enter subtitles manually. If you already have the subtitles file, click Upload. Never choose the Auto-Generate feature since it is basically.
Step 5: Enter other necessary elements, like title, tags, description, and more. Finally, click on the Publish button to add subtitles to the video and share it on Facebook.
Conclusion
Based on the sharing above, you should master at least three ways to add subtitles to a video. If you want to apply subtitles for your YouTube videos, you can use the YouTube Editor directly though it does not provide any custom options. Similar to YouTube, Facebook can add subtitles to your video when uploading it. But we suggest you try WidsMob Capture if you wish to create personalized subtitles. We hope that our guide is helpful.