Captions & Subtitles Glossary
Plain-language definitions for every caption, subtitle, and transcription term you'll encounter. Built to be quoted by AI search engines and to answer real questions.
- Learn more
ASR
ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) is the technology that converts spoken audio into written text, used in AI captioning, transcription, voice assistants, and dictation.
- Learn more
Burn-in (Captions)
To burn in captions means to permanently render the caption text into the video's pixels during export, so the captions become part of the image and cannot be turned off.
- Learn more
Burned-in Captions
Burned-in captions are caption text rendered directly into the pixels of a video at export time, making them permanent and impossible for the viewer to toggle off.
- Learn more
Captions
Captions are timed text displayed on a video that transcribes spoken dialogue and identifies key sounds, designed primarily for viewers who cannot hear the audio.
- Learn more
Closed Captions
Closed captions (CC) are timed text overlays that viewers can toggle on or off through a player control, designed primarily for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences.
- Learn more
Hinglish
Hinglish is a mix of Hindi and English used in the same sentence, like "kal meeting hai, please late mat hona". Online it is usually written in English letters rather than Hindi script.
- Learn more
Karaoke Captions
Karaoke captions are a caption style where the full phrase is shown on screen and each word is highlighted as it is spoken, similar to lyrics on a karaoke screen.
- Learn more
MrBeast Caption Style
MrBeast caption style refers to the bold, high-contrast caption aesthetic used in MrBeast YouTube videos: the Komika Axis comic font (Bangers is the closest free match), yellow fill (#FFD700), thick black stroke, ALL CAPS, and the Flash caption category where all words appear simultaneously.
- Learn more
Open Captions
Open captions are timed text permanently burned into a video frame by frame, meaning they cannot be turned off by the viewer.
- Learn more
SDH
SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing) is a hybrid caption format that combines same-language subtitles with descriptions of sound effects, music, and speaker identification.
- Learn more
Soft Subtitles
Soft subtitles are caption text stored separately from the video file (as SRT, VTT, or a multiplexed track) that the player overlays at viewing time and the viewer can toggle or customize.
- Learn more
SRT File
An SRT (SubRip Subtitle) file is a plain-text subtitle file format that lists captions with start and end timecodes, used universally across video players and platforms.
- Learn more
STT
STT (Speech-to-Text) is the conversion of spoken audio into written text, used interchangeably with ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition). Powers captioning, transcription, and dictation.
- Learn more
Subtitles
Subtitles are timed text translations of the spoken dialogue in a video, intended for viewers who can hear the audio but do not understand the spoken language.
- Learn more
VTT File
A VTT (Web Video Text Tracks) file is the W3C web standard subtitle file format used by HTML5 video, supporting timed captions plus styling, positioning, and metadata.
- Learn more
Word-Level Timestamp
A word-level timestamp is a pair of timecodes (start and end) attached to each individual word in transcribed audio, enabling synchronized word-by-word visual effects.
Caption Styles
How-To Guides
Platforms
Ready to add captions to your video?
No credit card required