DublioThere are two ways to put subtitles on a video. You can send them as a separate file that the viewer can switch on, or draw them into the picture so nobody can switch them off. Most videos benefit from both.
Two kinds
| A separate file (SRT) | Burned in | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A text file with the words and their timing | The words are part of the picture |
| Viewer can switch it off | Yes | No |
| Several languages | Yes, one file each | One language per video file |
| Works everywhere | Where the platform or player takes the file | Everywhere, including social feeds that play without sound |
| Searchable text | Yes | No |
| Style | The player decides | You decide: size, colour, position, box |
When to use which
- Burn in for videos that will play on feeds where sound is off, for a design that must look the same everywhere, and for scripts a player may draw badly.
- A separate file for platforms that take subtitle tracks, for accessibility, and for viewers who want to turn them off.
- Both when you publish a dubbed video: burned-in subtitles in the video file for feeds, and the SRT as a track where the platform allows it.
What an SRT file looks like
1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,200
Welcome back to the channel.
2
00:00:03,500 --> 00:00:06,000
Today we are building
something new.A number, a time range with commas before the milliseconds, one or two lines of text, then a blank line. Save it as UTF-8 so every script displays. About 42 characters per line is a common limit for easy reading, and it is the size Dublio aims for when it splits a script into subtitles.
Scripts that need care
- Right to left (Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Hebrew): lines must be marked as right to left or the full stop jumps. See the guide and the free fixer.
- Chinese, Japanese, Korean: the font must contain the characters, or the subtitles show empty boxes. These languages are written without spaces, so lines are cut between characters.
Using the file on a platform
Most video platforms let you upload an SRT file as a subtitle track in the video’s subtitle settings. Choose the language of the file when you upload it. Menus and wording differ between platforms and change over time, so look in the video’s settings for “subtitles” or “captions”.
With Dublio
Every dub comes with an SRT file in the new language, on the timing of the dub. In the Subtitles tab you can burn subtitles in, choose size, position, colour and a dark box, see a live preview, and re-export for free. Right-to-left languages are laid out right to left, and Chinese, Japanese and Korean use a font that can draw them.
Dub or subtitle your next video
Dublio translates your video, lets you edit the script line by line, and gives you the dubbed video, SRT subtitles and audio files. 10 free minutes every month, no card.