Video to subtitles converter: SRT captions or burned-in text
Most people watch social videos muted, and many courses, webinars and YouTube videos need captions for accessibility. Typing and timing them by hand takes hours. Your todo.is agent transcribes the speech, splits it into readable, well-timed lines and gives you an SRT file, or burns the captions straight into the video.
The prompt
- Make subtitles for the attached video: [ATTACH THE VIDEO]. The speech is in [LANGUAGE]. Transcribe it and split it into captions of at most 2 lines and about 42 characters per line, each on screen for 1 to 7 seconds and in sync with the speech. Spell these names and terms correctly: [NAMES AND TERMS]. Remove filler words like um and uh. Give me [OUTPUT]. If burning in, use [CAPTION STYLE].
What to change
- [ATTACH THE VIDEO]: Attach an MP4, MOV, MKV or WebM file up to 50 MB, or a public video link.
- [LANGUAGE]: E.g. "English", "Spanish" or "English, also translate to French".
- [NAMES AND TERMS]: E.g. "Nadia Haddad, todo.is, Kubernetes" or "none".
- [OUTPUT]: E.g. "an .srt file", ".srt and .vtt", "the video with captions burned in" or "both".
- [CAPTION STYLE]: E.g. "white text with a black outline, bottom center" or "bold yellow, large, for vertical video".
Example result
- Video to subtitles: Product_Demo.mp4
- 6 min 12 s · English · 112 captions · delivered as .srt and a captioned .mp4
- Sample of the SRT file
- 1
- 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:03,200
- Hi, I'm Nadia, and this is
- a quick tour of the new dashboard.
- 2
- 00:00:03,500 --> 00:00:06,900
- Everything you need for the day
- is on this one screen.
- 3
- 00:00:07,100 --> 00:00:10,300
- Let's start with the calendar
- on the left.
- Caption rules applied
- • Maximum 2 lines, about 42 characters per line
- • Each caption shows for 1 to 7 seconds, timed to the speech
- • Lines break at natural pauses and phrases, never mid-name
- • Filler words (um, uh, you know) removed; meaning unchanged
- • Names spelled as given: Nadia Haddad, Kubernetes
- Burned-in version
- • White text with a thin black outline, bottom center, size scaled to the video height
- • Same resolution and frame rate as the original, audio unchanged
- • File: Product_Demo_captioned.mp4
- Which to use
- • SRT file: upload it to YouTube, Vimeo, LinkedIn or a course platform. Viewers can turn captions on or off, and search engines can read them
- • Burned-in: best for Instagram Reels, TikTok and Stories, where captions must always show
- Check before publishing
- Skim the SRT for product names and numbers. Speech recognition is very accurate on clear audio but can mishear names, accents and crosstalk.
How to do it with todo.is
- Copy the prompt, set the language, names to spell correctly and the output you want.
- Attach the video in todo.is or send it to your agent on Telegram; for big files, share a public link.
- Your agent transcribes, times the captions and creates the SRT or the captioned video.
- Download the files. Ask for a translated SRT or a different caption style in the same chat.
Tips for a better result
- Give a list of names, brands and jargon. It is the main thing speech recognition gets wrong.
- Use an SRT for YouTube and courses, and burned-in captions for Reels and TikTok.
- For vertical video, ask for larger captions placed above the bottom of the frame, where app buttons sit.
- Clear audio matters most. Background music and several people talking at once reduce accuracy.
video to subtitles converter: FAQ
- What is an SRT file? An SRT is a plain text subtitle file with numbered captions and start and end times. YouTube, Vimeo, most video players and editing apps accept it.
- Can I get subtitles in another language? Yes. Your agent can transcribe in the spoken language and add a translated SRT. For legal or official content, have a professional check the translation.
- What is the difference between closed and burned-in captions? Closed captions are a separate file viewers can switch on or off. Burned-in captions are part of the video image and always show.
- How long can the video be? Uploads can be up to 50 MB. For longer videos, share a public link or ask your agent to compress the file first.
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