Auto Subtitle Generator for Any Video

An auto subtitle generator does three jobs. First, a speech recognition model turns the audio into text and records when each word starts and ends. Second, the words are grouped into short lines that are easy to read, each with a start and an end time. Third, those lines are either drawn onto the video (burned in) or saved as a subtitle file.

In StoryCut, the first two steps run on their own when your upload finishes. You then review the text, because no speech model gets every name, brand term or mumbled word right, and choose how the subtitles look. Because every word has its own timing, StoryCut can also animate or highlight each word as it is spoken, the look short-form creators use on TikTok, Reels and Shorts.

Burned-in subtitles (also called hardcoded or open captions) become part of the picture. They show on every platform and every phone, including when the video is reposted, and they can use any font, color and animation. The downside: viewers can’t turn them off or switch their language.

An SRT file (closed captions) is a separate text file with numbered lines and timecodes. You upload it next to the video on YouTube, a course platform or a video player, and viewers switch it on or off. It always looks like the player’s default subtitles.

StoryCut gives you both from the same project. Export the MP4 in the style you picked, and choose Download SRT in the editor menu. The SRT download works on every plan, including Free, and as a plain text file it has no watermark.

VEED and Kapwing are full browser editors with far more tools than subtitles, and Kapwing transcribes more language variants (155) than StoryCut (49). On their paid plans, VEED includes unlimited auto subtitles (with a 50-hour monthly fair-use cap) and Kapwing exports 4K videos up to 120 minutes long. If you need a general-purpose editor, they are good picks.

StoryCut is built around subtitles for short-form video: they start without a click, the 26 built-in styles animate word by word, and the free plan covers whole videos up to 4 minutes rather than a monthly allowance of minutes. If you mostly post talking videos to TikTok, Reels and Shorts, that’s the job it does best.