How do I embed the subtitles into my video?
We now offer burned-in captions (open captions) for an additional $0.30 per minute. If you plan to burn the captions in yourself, read on.
The end product for subtitles is what is known as a sidecar file. It's a text-based file that you then add to your video by uploading the subtitle file to the online platform where your video is hosted. Viewers can toggle these subtitles on or off. Sidecar caption files are used to upload directly to social media and video platforms.
A couple of popular programs are Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro. If you're looking for a free alternative to these, we suggest trying HandBrake. We've included instructions here on how to use HandBrake to burn subtitles into a video.*
*For any help using third-party software, please contact their respective support teams. We would love to troubleshoot, but they're in a much better position to do so.
Using HandBrake to Burn Subtitles Into a Video
First, you will need to download the free HandBrake software. Open the program, then click File: Open a single video file.
Whether you are working with Captions or Subtitles, you want to click Subtitles and then the Tracks dropdown and choose Import Subtitle.
Click Import Subtitle and select the .srt file you downloaded from Rev. When the file loads, double check to ensure that the Char Code (encoding) is set to UTF-8, and check the box that says Burn In. Both of these options are essential to burn the subtitles into the video correctly.
This is the only tricky part of the process. You will see there is a Burn-in option above and one below. The one below is always your added file. See the red arrow in the above screenshot. If you choose the top one it will not burn-in your chosen file.
At the bottom of the screen, give your video a name and click Browse to choose where to save it on your computer. We recommend giving this a different name than your original video so that you still have a subtitle-free copy (remember, these subtitles will be burned into the video itself).
Once you've selected the path where you will save the video, click the green arrow that says Start Encode at the top of the screen.
That's it! You will see a green progress bar indicating how far along the encoding process is. Keep in mind that the larger/longer your video, the longer this will take. Once the encoding process is complete, you can open your video on your computer, and the subtitles will be burned in.
Watch the video below for a real-time walkthrough of burning in captions/subtitles using HandBrake.