# Add Captions to Video > To add captions to video online, upload the clip to Kenerate's Auto Subtitles: it transcribes the speech and draws timed captions onto the picture. The defaults — Simple style, Bottom position, Mid shadow, 720p, Auto-detect language — suit most clips; change them for vertical, bright or accented footage, then download the captioned MP4. URL: https://kenerateai.com/add-captions-to-video Publisher: Kenerate AI (https://kenerateai.com) Last updated: 3 October 2026 ## Key facts - Default style: Simple - Default position: Bottom - Default shadow: Mid - Default resolution: 720p - Default language: Auto-detect - Ready in: About 1–3 min - Caption style (Default: Simple): 10 options → Simple, Plain, Glass, Whisper, Glide Pop, Fusion, Terminal, Lowkey, Rizz, Vegas. Match the look to the video's tone. - Position (Default: Bottom): 3 options → Top · Middle (Reels style) · Bottom. Bottom for landscape, Middle for 9:16, Top above lower thirds. - Resolution (Default: 720p): 2 options → 720p · 1080p HD. 720p to post quickly, 1080p for sharper text. - Text shadow (Default: Mid): 4 options → Off · Soft · Mid · Max. Max on bright footage, Off on dark plain shots. - Spoken language (Default: Auto-detect): Auto + 10 options → English (US), English (India), Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Russian. Pin it for strong accents or mixed-language clips. ## Steps 1. Upload the clip — MP4, MOV or WebM up to 4 minutes and 100 MB; sign in with a verified email first. 2. Keep or change the style — Simple is preselected; nine more styles are one tap away. 3. Match the position to the frame — Bottom for landscape, Middle for vertical, Top when graphics sit low. 4. Check language, resolution and shadow — Pin the language for strong accents, choose 1080p HD for sharper text, raise the shadow on bright scenes. 5. Generate and download — About 1–3 minutes; compare Original vs Captioned before you save. ## In depth ### Reading speed and line length Captions only work if viewers can read them before they change. Auto Subtitles splits the transcript into short lines timed to the speech, so the pace follows the speaker. Fast talkers produce fast captions; if a clip feels rushed, a style that shows fewer words at once, such as Fusion's short bursts, is easier to follow. ### Contrast is the setting most people skip Most web players show captions as white characters in a black box [1]. Burned-in styles usually drop the box for a cleaner look, which makes contrast your job. The text shadow setting is the fix: Soft for dark scenes, Mid as the default, Max for snow, beaches and white kitchens. Glass and Terminal bring their own background. ### Aspect ratio decides the position The captions follow the clip's own frame; only their placement changes. - 16:9 landscape: Bottom, the classic subtitle spot. - 9:16 vertical: Middle, clear of app buttons and post text. - 1:1 square: Bottom or Middle, depending on what sits low in the frame. - Screen recordings: Top, if the bottom holds controls or a taskbar. - Interviews with name titles: Top, so captions don't collide with the lower third. ### What captions should carry W3C describes captions as a text version of the speech and the non-speech audio needed to understand a video [1]. Auto Subtitles covers the speech. Laughter, music cues and speaker names are up to you: add them as titles in your editor when a video has to be fully accessible, not just watchable on mute [2]. References: [1] W3C Web Accessibility Initiative — Captions/Subtitles, checked 3 October 2026: https://www.w3.org/WAI/media/av/captions/ [2] Closed captioning — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_captioning ## FAQ Q: What happens when I add captions to a video with Kenerate? A: The tool transcribes the speech, splits it into short timed lines and draws them onto every frame in the style, position and shadow you set. You get one MP4 at 720p or 1080p with the captions burned in, plus an Original vs Captioned view to check it first. A run takes about 1–3 minutes. Q: Where should captions go on the screen? A: Bottom suits landscape video and is where viewers expect subtitles. Middle, which the tool labels Reels style, centres captions on vertical clips so app buttons don't cover them. Top keeps captions clear of lower-third name titles, product graphics or hands working at the bottom of the frame, as in cooking or craft videos. Q: Why are my captions hard to read? A: Usually it's contrast: white words over a bright background. Raise the text shadow to Mid or Max, switch to Glass, which sets the words on a frosted pill, or move the captions to a darker part of the frame. Small styles such as Lowkey and Glide Pop read better at 1080p HD, especially after a platform recompresses the upload. Q: Can I add captions to a video that has no speech? A: No. The captions are written from the speech, so a silent clip, or one with only music, has nothing to transcribe. For those, add text titles in a regular video editor. If you plan a voiceover, record it and mix it in first, then add captions to the finished video with the voice clearly louder than any music. Q: Can I add captions to only part of a video? A: Not inside the tool, which captions all the speech in the clip you upload. To caption one section, trim it out in your editor, run that section through Auto Subtitles and place the captioned part back on your timeline. Export the section at the same frame size as the rest of the edit so the join stays clean. Q: Do captions make a video accessible? A: They help many viewers, including people who are deaf or hard of hearing and anyone watching on mute. Full accessibility captions also describe important non-speech sounds and identify speakers, which W3C guidance includes in its description of captions. Kenerate transcribes speech only, so add sound descriptions in an editor when a video needs them. ## Related pages - Add subtitles to video: https://kenerateai.com/add-subtitles-to-video - How to add subtitles to video: https://kenerateai.com/how-to-add-subtitles-to-video - Caption maker: https://kenerateai.com/caption-maker - Open captions: https://kenerateai.com/open-captions - AI caption generator: https://kenerateai.com/ai-caption-generator ## Sources - Kenerate Auto Subtitles (tool): https://kenerateai.com/app/tool/subtitles - W3C Web Accessibility Initiative — Captions/Subtitles, checked 3 October 2026: https://www.w3.org/WAI/media/av/captions/ - Subtitles — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtitles - Closed captioning — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_captioning