Add Chinese Subtitles to a Video

Simplified or Traditional comes first

Written Chinese has two standard character sets. Simplified characters are used in mainland China and Singapore; Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, and by many overseas communities. The same sentence looks noticeably different: 这个视频很有意思 in Simplified, 這個影片很有意思 in Traditional, where even the word for video changes.

The "Subtitle language" menu offers a single entry, Chinese, with no Simplified or Traditional switch, and the editor doesn't convert one set into the other. Treat the script of AI output as something to check rather than assume: read the first few lines and compare a handful of common characters, such as 这/這, 个/個, 们/們 and 说/說.

If the script is wrong for your audience:

1. Click Export SRT to save the current lines.
2. Convert the file with a Simplified-Traditional converter; open-source tools such as OpenCC do this, and some can also swap regional vocabulary.
3. Back in the editor, click "Import SRT / VTT", choose the converted file and confirm that it should replace the current subtitles.

Character conversion is not the whole job. Mainland and Taiwanese usage differ in vocabulary too: 软件 and 軟體 for software, 信息 and 資訊 for information, 视频 and 影片 for video. A line converted character by character can still read as mainland Chinese to a reader in Taipei. Simplified vs Traditional Chinese subtitles covers the choice in detail.

How Han text is broken into lines

Chinese has no spaces between words, so the editor asks the browser's word segmenter where the words are and only breaks lines at those boundaries. A two-character word like 字幕 or 视频 stays together instead of being split across lines, and an English word or number inside the sentence is normally kept whole.

Punctuation follows simple rules. Full-width marks that close something, such as ，。、！？：；」》）, attach to the word before them and never start a line. Opening marks such as 「《（ attach to the word after them and never end one. When a subtitle needs two lines, the editor narrows the width until the lines are close in length, so you don't get eleven characters above and two below.

If you want a break in a particular place, for example between two clauses, press Enter inside the line's text box. The editor keeps your break and wraps each part on its own.

How much fits on one line

Each Han character carries roughly a word's worth of meaning, so Chinese lines are short and reading-speed limits are low. The editor flags a Chinese line longer than 16 characters and any subtitle faster than 9 characters per second. Full-width punctuation counts as a character; spaces don't count toward reading speed.

AI subtitles come back as single lines of about 12 characters, each held for up to about 2.6 seconds, which suits phone screens. If you merge two of them for a calmer two-line layout, check the reading-speed warning afterwards.

A line's language is judged from its characters. A Chinese sentence studded with English product names can end up with more Latin letters than Han characters, and then it is checked against the Latin limits (42 characters, 21 per second) instead. Keep an eye on such lines yourself, because they are often the hardest to read.

Ways to bring a dense line back under the limit:

• Remove repeated subjects and padding that the speech had but the reader doesn't need.
• Replace a long English term with its established Chinese name, if your audience uses one.
• Give the line more time by dragging its end edge on the timeline, without overlapping the next line.

The font that draws the characters

None of the 19 fonts in the Style panel contains Chinese characters. When your subtitles include Han text, the editor loads Noto Sans SC and uses it for the Chinese, while English letters and digits keep the font you chose. If that web font can't be loaded, installed fonts such as PingFang SC on a Mac or Microsoft YaHei on Windows take over.

Noto Sans SC is designed for Simplified Chinese. Traditional text still displays, but a few characters may take the mainland shape rather than the form readers in Taiwan or Hong Kong are used to. For a Traditional audience, look closely at a few lines in the preview before rendering.

Styling notes:

• Choose a Latin face that sits naturally beside a sans-serif Chinese font; Noto Sans and Inter are the closest companions.
• The Chinese fallback comes in regular and bold, so finer weight steps only change the Latin parts.
• Italic and UPPERCASE don't change Han characters.
• Strokes in complex characters are thin at small sizes; a box background or a solid outline helps more than it would for Latin text. Subtitle backgrounds compares the options.

Worked examples

Before you render

• Script confirmed as Simplified or Traditional throughout, with no mixed lines.
• Regional vocabulary matched to the audience, not just the characters.
• Names, numbers and units checked against the speech; AI makes most of its mistakes there.
• No unresolved warnings for line length or reading speed.
• Text clear of any Chinese captions already burned into the footage. If they clash, the "Hide subtitles already in the video" band blurs a strip of the frame so the old text can't be read under the new lines; see hiding burned-in subtitles.

If you need a subtitle file rather than a new video, the Chinese subtitle generator returns the SRT, and Chinese video to text gives a transcript. For English viewers of a Mandarin video, use the Chinese to English video translator. Japanese mixes kanji with kana and has slightly different limits; adding Japanese subtitles covers it.

About the subtitle editor on this page

Opens

MP4, MOV, M4V, WebM, MKV videos your browser can decode

Subtitles from

AI (from the speech, optionally translated into one of 21 languages), an SRT or VTT file, or typing them in

You download

An MP4 with the subtitles drawn into the picture at the original resolution and frame rate, plus SRT and VTT files

Cost

Editing, styling, rendering and SRT/VTT export are free, with no account and no watermark. AI subtitles cost 1 credit per minute (5-credit minimum per video); signing in with Google gives 100 free credits and accounts get 10 free credits a day

Privacy

The video never leaves your device and is rendered in your browser. Only for AI subtitles is the audio sent, over HTTPS, and it is deleted within 30 minutes of delivery

Rendering needs

Chrome or Edge 94+, Safari 16.4+, or Firefox 130+ on a computer. Editing and SRT/VTT export work in any current browser