Guide
Add captions to a Short with YouTube's own captions, or burn them in before you upload
Updated
There are two ways to add captions to a YouTube Short. YouTube can caption it for you after upload, which viewers switch on themselves, or you burn captions into the video so everyone sees them.
In short
- You add captions to YouTube Shorts either with YouTube's automatic captions after you upload, or by burning captions into the video before you upload.
- YouTube's automatic captions are made by speech recognition, published on the Short automatically, and shown only to viewers who switch captions on.
- You check and fix YouTube's captions in YouTube Studio under Subtitles, or add your own there by uploading a file, auto-syncing a transcript or typing them.
- Burned-in captions are part of the picture, so every viewer sees them, including people watching with the sound off.
- Cutroom's Magic Editor burns captions into the Short as part of the edit, and you post the finished vertical MP4 to YouTube yourself.
How do you add captions to YouTube Shorts?
You have two kinds of captions to choose from. YouTube's captions sit on top of the video and can be switched on or off. Burned-in captions are drawn into the video itself.
- Someone scrolling with the sound off sees burned-in captions without doing anything, which is the main reason to burn them in.
- If you burn captions in and leave YouTube's automatic captions on, a viewer who switches captions on sees both.
YouTube's captions and burned-in captions
From YouTube's help pages on automatic captions and subtitles, read on 12 November 2026.
Who sees them
- YouTube's captions
- Viewers who switch captions on
- Burned-in captions
- Everyone who watches
Who makes them
- YouTube's captions
- YouTube's speech recognition, or you in YouTube Studio
- Burned-in captions
- Your editor or caption app, before you upload
Fixing a mistake
- YouTube's captions
- Edit them in YouTube Studio at any time
- Burned-in captions
- Fix them in the editor and upload again
How they look
- YouTube's captions
- YouTube's caption style
- Burned-in captions
- Any style your editor offers, such as big words
Cost
- YouTube's captions
- Free
- Burned-in captions
- Depends on the editor
| YouTube's captions | Burned-in captions | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sees them | Viewers who switch captions on | Everyone who watches |
| Who makes them | YouTube's speech recognition, or you in YouTube Studio | Your editor or caption app, before you upload |
| Fixing a mistake | Edit them in YouTube Studio at any time | Fix them in the editor and upload again |
| How they look | YouTube's caption style | Any style your editor offers, such as big words |
| Cost | Free | Depends on the editor |
YouTube's automatic captions: what a viewer sees
YouTube makes automatic captions for Shorts with speech recognition and publishes them on the Short once they're ready. A viewer sees them only after switching captions on with the Closed captions button.
YouTube says the time this takes depends on the video's sound. Captions may not be made at all if the sound is poor or the speakers overlap.
- To check or fix them on a computer, open YouTube Studio, select Subtitles in the left menu, and select your Short.
- Next to the automatic captions, open More and edit the words that were heard wrong, such as your name or your product's name.
- To add your own captions instead, select ADD LANGUAGE, then ADD under Subtitles.
- Then choose Upload file if you have a captions file, Auto-sync to time a transcript you paste in, or Type manually to write them while the video plays.
- You can also add subtitles while you upload the video.
How Cutroom's Magic Editor edits a video like this
Jacob is the AI editor inside Cutroom's Magic Editor: it edits your video for you, then changes it when you ask in a chat.
The 4 styles, as example edits
Steps
Three steps, four angles
Skit
Hook, hard stop, demo card
Verdict
The tester's verdict
Poster
Typography does the talking
Hover or tap an example to play it, without sound. These are example edits of each style; the presenters in them are generated with AI.
- Your take: one video of you talking, up to 3 minutes
- Your style: one of 4: Steps, Skit, Verdict or Poster
- Your files: screenshots, a screen recording or a logo, if you have them
- Your goal: what the video is for, in a few words, if you like
- Jacob makes it: normally 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email
- Your edit: ask Jacob for changes in a chat, then export
Then you ask Jacob, for example
- “Make this about 10 seconds shorter”
- “Put a clip on the strongest sentence”
- “Change the music to something calmer”
Each change is a new version, and going back is free. First cut 250 credits, each change 40, questions free, export 30 credits per started minute.
Burning captions in before you upload
Burned-in captions are added in an editor before the Short goes to YouTube. YouTube's Shorts editor has a Text tool, but you type and time every piece of text yourself.
Here's a drawn example of the other route, where Cutroom's Magic Editor makes the whole edit with the captions built in.
- The Shorts editor's Text tool is fine for a title or one callout. For a caption on every word, an editor that writes them from your voice saves the typing.
- In the Magic Editor, Jacob, the AI editor, writes the captions from what you say and times them to your voice. Cutroom transcribes your take in the language you speak and keeps the captions in that language.
- In the goal step, you can pick "YouTube Shorts" as where the video will run.
- If a caption word is wrong, you tap it and fix it for free. Your voice stays as it is.
- The Magic Editor exports a vertical MP4, 1080 by 1920, 30 frames a second, with the sound levelled. It doesn't make a captions file (SRT) for YouTube Studio, and it doesn't upload the Short for you.
A home cook's meal-prep Short, before and after
The captions are part of the picture, so every viewer sees them. Each chat request makes a new version.
Drawing of an example clip, not a customer video
Before · the clip as filmed
A 30-second phone video of a home cook talking about her Sunday meal prep, plus two screenshots of her shopping-list app
“Um, every Sunday I prep three things: rice, roasted veg and a big pot of sauce. So, uh, it all goes on one list in my app , in my app, so nothing gets forgotten.”
struck through = what Jacob cuts
After · Jacob's first edit, Steps style
“Every Sunday I prep three things: rice, roasted veg and a big pot of sauce. it all goes on one list in my app so nothing gets forgotten.”
- On “Sunday”: captions burned into the video, one big word at a time
- On “list”: your screenshot shopping-list.png in a floating window above the captions
- On “app”: your second screenshot, the week's list, in a floating window
- On “forgotten”: the video ends on you, with your logo as a sticker
- Under the whole video: calm music under your voice
window: shopping-list.png
Then you ask Jacob
- “Make the key words stand out more”v2a new version with the key words set bigger in your accent colour
- “Change the caption style on the hook”v3a new version with the opening words in a different caption look
Which captions a Short needs
Most Shorts are better with burned-in captions, and YouTube's captions are a free extra on top.
Which captions to use on a YouTube Short
Choose YouTube's automatic captions if you want captions for free and you're happy that only viewers who switch them on will see them.
Choose Your own captions in YouTube Studio if you have a script or a captions file and want the switch-on captions to be exactly right.
Choose The Shorts editor's Text tool if you only need a title or a few words on screen, not every word you say.
Choose Burned-in captions from Cutroom's Magic Editor if you film yourself talking and want the finished Short with captions everyone sees. Your first video is free.
Questions people ask
- Does YouTube add captions to Shorts automatically?
- Yes, when it can. YouTube uses speech recognition to make automatic captions for Shorts and publishes them on the video, but viewers only see them after switching captions on.
- How do I edit the automatic captions on my Short?
- Open YouTube Studio, select Subtitles, pick your Short, and open More next to the automatic captions to edit the words that are wrong.
- Why are my YouTube Shorts captions not showing?
- Usually because the viewer hasn't switched captions on, or YouTube hasn't made them yet. YouTube says captions can also fail when the sound is poor, there's a long silence at the start or several people talk at once.
- Should I burn captions into my Shorts?
- Yes, for most Shorts. Burned-in captions are seen by everyone, including people watching with the sound off, while YouTube's captions only show when a viewer switches them on.
- Can I add captions in the YouTube Shorts editor?
- You can add text with the Text tool and set when each piece shows on the Timeline. You type each piece yourself; YouTube's help doesn't describe automatic captions in the Shorts editor.
- Does Cutroom upload the Short to YouTube?
- No. Cutroom's Magic Editor exports a vertical MP4 with the captions burned in, and you upload it to YouTube yourself.
Film one clip of you talking and get the Short back with the captions already in it.