What are burned-in captions?

In short: Captions that are part of the video image itself, so they show for every viewer and can't be turned off.

Burned-in (open) captions are rendered into the video. They're the animated word-by-word captions you see on most Shorts and TikToks, and they help the many people who watch with the sound off.

Closed captions are the opposite: a separate text track, often an SRT file, that viewers can switch on or off. Many creators use both: styled burned-in captions for the feed and a caption file for accessibility and search.

Example

Say your auto-captions read "I use cap cut to make fifty clips", but you said fifteen. Fix the brand name and the number first. Then split the line into phrases you would say in one breath, about 3 to 7 words each: "I use CapCut" and "to make 15 clips". Add a dark box behind the white text, scrub to the brightest shot to check it still reads, and keep the caption above the bottom fifth of the frame and away from the right edge.

Tips for creators

• Proofread before you style. Names, brands, numbers and negatives like can and can't are the words auto-captions get wrong most often.
• Highlight at most one keyword per caption. Animating every word competes with the speaker, and when everything is highlighted, nothing stands out.
• Keep an editable project or an SRT file alongside the export. Burned-in text can't be edited after posting, so you need the source to fix a typo.

Common questions

How many words should a burned-in caption show at once?

Aim for one or two lines and roughly 3 to 7 words per caption. Split where the speaker naturally pauses, never between a number and its unit, and keep each caption on screen long enough to read twice at normal speed.

What font works for burned-in captions?

Use a bold, simple sans-serif font and avoid thin or script fonts. Add a dark outline, a soft shadow or a semi-opaque box so the text reads over bright shots. Check the brightest frame in the video, not the average one.

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All 29 glossary terms · Reviewed on 2026-11-05.