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Subtitles and captions in the new editor

The difference between subtitles and captions, how to create and edit both, and what to know about multiple languages and SRT files.

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Written by Kirsten Brown

Subtitles make your videos clear and accessible, captions give them the social media look. The new editor has a separate tool for each. Here is when to use which, and how both work.

Subtitles or captions? The difference

  • Subtitle: classic subtitles for clarity and accessibility. You create them per element on the timeline, can cover several languages and work with SRT files.

  • Captions: animated word-by-word overlays in a social media style. They follow one style for the whole project and can be shown, hidden and positioned.

Creating subtitles

  1. On the timeline, select the video that needs subtitles.

  2. Open the Subtitle tool at the bottom.

  3. Under Method, choose how the subtitles are created:

    • Automatic subtitles: cofenster creates them from the audio track.

    • Manual subtitles: you write them yourself.

    • Upload subtitles file: you upload an existing SRT file.

  4. Set the Spoken language to the language spoken in the video.

Note: A wrong spoken language setting is the most common reason automatic subtitles fail.

Your subtitle style applies to the whole project. You find it at the top of the Subtitle panel under Style.

Subtitles in several languages

Create subtitles in the spoken language first and review them. For additional languages, add a translated SRT file via Upload subtitles file.

Creating and controlling captions

  1. Open the Captions tool at the bottom.

  2. Use Visibility to show or hide captions.

  3. Use Position to set where captions appear, for example at the bottom.

  4. Under Style, pick the design. The style applies to all captions in the project.

Note: Want captions in your brand font and colors? Your Customer Success Manager activates this feature for your account. Just reach out via chat.

Common problems and fixes

  • Subtitle creation fails: Check that the spoken language matches the audio and that the selected element contains clearly audible speech. Then run the creation again. If it still fails, message us in the chat and name the project.

  • Subtitles missing from the export: Before exporting, check that the subtitles are attached to the right element. Subtitles are created per element, not per project.

  • An SRT file will not import: Open the file in a text editor and check the format (number, timestamps, text, blank line). If in doubt, re-export it as UTF-8.

  • Captions do not appear: Check in the Captions panel that visibility is switched on.

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