How to Add SRT Captions to a Facebook Video

The steps, per Facebook's help

Facebook's help centre describes adding captions to a video on your profile like this:

1. Post the video as usual and wait for Facebook to say it's ready.
2. Find the post, open Options and choose Edit post.
3. Choose to edit from the composer, then Add captions.
4. Upload a SubRip (.srt) file from your computer.
5. Save.

For another language, repeat the caption upload with a second file. Videos posted to a Page follow a similar flow, and Meta's business tools have their own caption options; the interface varies, but the SRT requirement is the same.

Name the file with its language

Facebook's help links to naming conventions for SRT files: the file name carries a language and country code before the extension, in the form filename.en_US.srt for US English or filename.es_ES.srt for Spanish from Spain. The code tells Facebook which language the captions are in. If an upload is rejected or shows the wrong language, check the name first.

Common formatting problems

SRT is a simple format, and small mistakes break uploads:

• Timestamps must use the HH:MM:SS,mmm form with a comma before the milliseconds.
• Each cue needs a number, a timing line and text, separated from the next cue by a blank line.
• Save the file as plain text in UTF-8, not as a Word document renamed to .srt.

SRT file not working goes through these in detail, and how to edit an SRT file shows how to fix one safely.

Uploaded captions or burned-in text?

Uploaded captions can be turned off and replaced, and they stay sharp. Burned-in text always shows, including when the video is downloaded and reposted, but can't be changed without a new upload. For short clips meant for silent scrolling, many teams burn captions in; for longer videos and events, they upload SRT files. Open vs closed captions covers the trade-off.

Making the SRT with mydubly

Upload the exact video you posted to the subtitle generator; it stays on your device and only the audio is sent. Download the SRT, rename it with Facebook's language code, and upload it. For other languages, run the file again with a target language: translations into Spanish come in Latin American or European Spanish, and Portuguese in Brazilian or European Portuguese, which helps you pick the matching code. Translated subtitles covers the 21 available languages.

Limits and checks

• Watch the posted video muted with captions on, on a phone and on desktop.
• Automatic subtitles come one line per cue without speaker names; split long cues and add names for multi-speaker videos.
• Keep a copy of every SRT you upload, named by video and language, so you can reuse or correct it without downloading anything back from Facebook.
• Facebook's menus change over time. If you can't find Add captions, check Facebook's current help article for your account type.
• If you edit and re-upload the video, the old SRT's timings won't match the new cut.

Live videos and long recordings

Facebook Live recordings stay on your profile or Page after the broadcast. To add captions afterwards, download the recording, make an SRT from that download, and upload it to the same post. Long streams often start with minutes of waiting; if you trim that in an editor and re-upload, make the SRT from the trimmed file. Translating livestream recordings covers the extra steps for long, unscripted recordings, including noisy chat sounds and music breaks.

Churches, clubs and community groups

Many Facebook videos come from groups that serve speakers of several languages: a church streaming a sermon, a club sharing a meeting, a school posting an announcement. Captions in the main community languages make those videos useful to everyone without a second recording. The sermon translation page covers that case specifically, and translating school videos for parents covers announcements. If the video is going to a group chat instead, burn the captions in, since messaging apps ignore separate files.

Reels and short clips

Short vertical videos follow different rules from regular posts, and caption options for them change often. Automatic captions or text added in the app are common there, and burned-in captions work everywhere. If you burn captions into a vertical clip, keep them in the middle third of the frame, away from the bottom area where the app places names, buttons and descriptions. Accessible social media videos covers caption size and contrast for small screens. For a step-by-step burn-in with a free tool, see adding an SRT to an MP4 with HandBrake; the same SRT you upload to a regular post can be burned into the short version.