Add Subtitles to a Video on Windows

What comes with Windows

Windows has no dedicated subtitle tool, but a few built-in pieces come close. On Windows 11 the video editing that used to sit inside the Photos app has moved to Clipchamp, Microsoft's video editor, which ships with many recent builds; it can generate captions from speech and draw them into an exported video. The older Photos editor lives on as a separate download in some versions, listed as Photos Legacy in the Microsoft Store, and it adds text to clips without any notion of timed subtitle lines. On Windows 10 the Photos editor is often still built in. Players such as Media Player and VLC can show an SRT next to a video, but showing subtitles during playback is not the same as putting them into the file.

Menus, names and availability shift between Windows builds and app updates, so treat the descriptions below as a general guide and check what your own PC shows.

The options side by side

Clipchamp

Microsoft's editor, used with a Microsoft account. Recent versions offer automatic captions you can correct and include in the export. A natural fit when you also want cuts, music or titles in the same project; features and export choices depend on the version and account type.

Photos app legacy video editor

Adds title cards and text over individual clips in a few preset styles. There is no subtitle file import and no per-line timing, so captioning speech means splitting clips by hand. Fine for a caption or two, slow for dialogue.

HandBrake

Free, open-source converter. Its Subtitles tab imports an SRT and can burn it into the picture or add it as a switchable track in an MP4 or MKV. It doesn't write or edit subtitle text, and burned SRT text gets little styling. Runs entirely on your PC.

VLC

Free player. Loads an SRT for viewing, and its Convert/Save feature can burn subtitles during a transcode, though the settings are fiddly and results vary between versions.

The browser editor on this page

Takes subtitles from AI, an SRT or VTT file, or your typing; lets you fix text and timing on a timeline and style them with presets and fonts; renders a burned-in MP4 on your PC. Nothing to install, but it needs an internet connection to load and a supported browser to render.

Matching the tool to the job

None of these suits every case, and the right one depends on what you already have:

• Already editing the video, with cuts, music and titles? A full editor such as Clipchamp keeps it all in one project.
• Holding a finished SRT and want a track viewers can switch off inside the MP4 or MKV? HandBrake does that, which this editor doesn't: its MP4s always have the subtitles burned in. Adding an SRT to an MP4 with HandBrake walks through it.
• Just want to watch a film with subtitles? VLC shows the SRT alongside without changing the video; see subtitles in VLC, and burning subtitles with VLC if you want them permanent.
• Need to write, correct or retime the text itself and see the styled result as you go? That is the job the editor on this page was built for.
• This editor doesn't open AVI, so for an AVI recording, or a batch of files to convert, a desktop converter such as HandBrake is the practical choice.

Which Windows browsers can render

Editing subtitles and exporting SRT or VTT work in any modern browser. Rendering the finished video uses the browser's built-in video encoder, which on Windows means:

• Microsoft Edge 94 or later. Edge comes with Windows 10 and 11 and updates itself, so most PCs already qualify.
• Google Chrome 94 or later.
• Firefox 130 or later.

Safari isn't made for Windows, so it doesn't come into it. To see your version, open edge://settings/help in Edge, chrome://settings/help in Chrome, or Help, then About Firefox. Work and school PCs sometimes hold browsers back on older versions. If the editor says your browser can't render, you can still finish the subtitles and export an SRT, then render on another computer or burn the file in with HandBrake.

Subtitling a video in Edge or Chrome

1. Find the video in File Explorer. Recordings made with the Xbox Game Bar usually land in Videos, in a Captures folder.
2. Open the editor on this page and drag the file in from File Explorer, or click Choose video. MP4, MOV, M4V, WebM and MKV files open.
3. Decide where the text comes from: AI subtitles (Google sign-in, 1 credit per minute of video), Import SRT / VTT, or typing with Enter at the playhead.
4. Correct words and timing in the line list and on the timeline, then choose a look in Style.
5. Click Render video, check the summary and start it, and leave the tab open while your PC encodes the new copy.
6. Click Download video. Edge and Chrome save to the Downloads folder by default, and the file is named after the original with -subtitled.mp4 on the end.

Windows snags worth knowing

• Hidden file extensions. File Explorer hides them by default, so a subtitle file saved from Notepad can end up as captions.srt.txt and won't appear in the import dialog, which lists only .srt and .vtt files. Show extensions (in Windows 11, View, then Show, then File name extensions), rename the file, and next time pick "All files" as the type when saving in Notepad. When an SRT file won't load covers other causes.
• Text encoding. Save subtitle files as UTF-8 so accented letters, Hindi or Arabic come through intact; files saved in an older Windows encoding can turn into strange characters.
• Disk space. Long renders stream into the browser's private storage, which normally lives on the drive holding your Windows user profile, usually C:. Free some space there before rendering a long or 4K video.
• Sleep and power. Closing the tab cancels a render, and letting the PC sleep can interrupt one. Plug a laptop in and keep it awake for long files; power-saving modes on battery may also slow the encode.

After the download

The MP4 is H.264 whenever your browser can encode that size, which Windows players handle without extra downloads. At very high resolutions it may come out as HEVC, VP9 or AV1 instead, and some players need an add-on for those; HEVC compatibility explains the details. Because the subtitles are part of the picture, they show wherever the file goes: Teams, WhatsApp on the desktop, an email attachment, a USB stick plugged into a TV. If you exported an SRT too, keep it with the original video as the editable copy for next time.

Colleagues on a Mac can follow the Mac version of this guide, and subtitling without installing software goes further into the browser-only approach. If you need a plain transcript of a recording rather than subtitles, see transcribing audio on Windows.

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