Add Shorts captionsYouTube Shorts
caption generator.
Add animated word-by-word captions to your Shorts. 32+ styles — Beast, Hormozi, Submagic-style. No credit card, ready for upload.
The Shorts caption editor
in action.
Click-to-correct transcript, drag any line off the YouTube UI overlay, 32+ animated styles.
Why Shorts creators
burn captions in.
Hook in the first 3 seconds
Shorts that lose viewers in the first 3s never reach the wider Shorts shelf. Animated captions hold the eye while the audio context loads.
Sound-off auto-scroll
Half of Shorts viewing happens muted (commute, lectures, late-night). Burned-in captions are the entire message for that audience.
Full-resolution export
Export your captioned Short in full quality, ready to upload straight to YouTube. Paid plans from $7.99/mo remove the small AnimateCaptions watermark.
Vertical-first by default
Captions auto-position to clear the YouTube Shorts UI (subscribe button, like icon). Per-line drag lets you nudge any line off the action.
Add captions to Shorts
in three steps.
01
Upload your Short
Drop an MP4 or MOV — record direct from YouTube Mobile, ScreenStudio, OBS, your phone. 9:16, 1:1, and 16:9 all work.
02
Pick a caption style
32+ animated presets — Beast, Hormozi, Submagic-style oversize, retro, neon, handwritten. Per-word colour + drag per line.
03
Export & upload to YouTube
Click Export. Download the captioned MP4. Upload via YouTube Studio or the mobile app like any other Short.
32+ caption styles, free.
Every style animated word-by-word and customisable.
- Beast (Mr Beast palette)
- Hormozi (green + heavy stroke)
- Stack (Submagic accumulation)
- Pulse (rainbow active word)
- Glow (neon halo)
- Brush (chunky cyan)
- Verse (italic serif)
- Crafty (handwritten)
YouTube Shorts captions FAQ.
Is the YouTube Shorts caption generator free?
Yes. Free tier includes 32+ caption styles, daily upload + export allowances, and no credit card. Free exports carry a small AnimateCaptions watermark; paid plans from $7.99/month remove it.
Will my YouTube Short have a watermark from your tool?
Free exports include a small AnimateCaptions watermark. Paid plans from $7.99/month remove it — cheaper than Submagic ($19/mo) or Captions.ai ($24.99/mo).
What's the max Shorts length supported?
Up to 2 minutes per upload. YouTube Shorts itself supports up to 60 seconds, so 2 minutes covers Shorts plus extracts for the regular YouTube feed.
Does this work for Shorts in non-English languages?
Yes — 36+ languages via Deepgram Nova-3 auto-detect. Captions render in language-appropriate fonts (Cyrillic, Devanagari, etc.).
Can I edit transcription errors before exporting?
Yes — click any word to correct it, eye icon to hide a word, drag-to-position any line, timestamp chip to nudge start/end times.
How does this compare to YouTube's built-in auto-captions?
YouTube's built-in captions are toggle-able subtitles, not burned-in animated text. Our captions are part of the video itself — animated word-by-word in styles like Mr Beast, Hormozi, or Submagic.
Will I lose any video quality?
Output is H.264 at CRF 22, capped at 1080p — visually indistinguishable from a YouTube re-encode. 4K source is downscaled with lanczos sharpening.
Are burned-in captions OK for Shorts monetisation?
Yes — burned-in captions don't affect monetisation. They actually help: longer watch-time = better ad performance.
Caption your next
Short — free.
Sign in, upload, pick a style, download the captioned MP4.
Add Shorts captions