Subtitles
Subtitles are timed text displayed over video showing what is being said, primarily for viewers who can hear the audio but need or prefer text — translations, muted playback, noisy environments.
Subtitles differ from closed captions in intent: captions serve viewers who cannot hear and therefore include sound effects and speaker identification, while subtitles assume the audio is available.
Delivery is either a sidecar file (SRT, VTT) the player renders, or text burned permanently into the video frames.
Related terms
Frequently asked
What is Subtitles?
Subtitles are timed text displayed over video showing what is being said, primarily for viewers who can hear the audio but need or prefer text — translations, muted playback, noisy environments.
Why does Subtitles matter?
Subtitles differ from closed captions in intent: captions serve viewers who cannot hear and therefore include sound effects and speaker identification, while subtitles assume the audio is available.
What terms are related to Subtitles?
Closely related concepts: Closed captions, Burned-in captions, Subtitle timing — each has its own entry in this glossary.
Transcribe audio or video in 99+ languages — speaker labels, word timestamps, captions.
Transcribe a file →