Feature / Captions
Captions built from the same transcript.
When captions are enabled, they are timed word by word from the transcript that placed the cut and burned into the file. The word being spoken flips to a highlight colour. 12 presets are the starting points, and every field behind them is yours to set - including the entrance each line arrives on.
What are burned-in captions?
Burned-in captions are drawn into the video's own pixels rather than shipped beside it as a subtitle file, so when enabled they appear on every platform and in every player. cutspool burns them in word by word, timed from the same transcript that placed the cut; while the source is retained with READY status, the clip editor can hide them or change their styling before re-rendering and downloading.
The actual file this feature produces.
The cheapest thing on this desk is the one I would replace last
Stop buying a second screen before you fix the first one's height
Cable management is a one-hour job you will do four times
What a caption style is made of
Face
One of six fonts. You cannot upload your own.
Size and weight
Set as a proportion of the frame height, so 720 x 1280 and 1080 x 1920 read the same.
Colours
Base, highlight and outline, each any six-digit hex value.
Outline or box
One or the other. The box replaces the outline rather than sitting behind it.
Words per line
One to five, three by default, broken early on a noticeable pause.
Position
One of three vertical positions in the frame.
Output
- Presets
- 12 named starting points
- On a free plan
- 2 presets and their highlight colour
- On a paid plan
- All 12 presets and every field
- Timing
- Word level, from the transcript that placed the cut
- Render
- Burned into the picture when enabled, never a separate file
How it works
Take the word timings
The caption track is built from the same word-level timings that placed the cut, so a caption cannot drift out of sync with the audio.
Group the words into lines
One to five words per line, three by default, broken early when there is a noticeable pause between words.
White words, yellow on the beat, hard black outline.
- Font
- Open Sans
- Words per line
- 3
- Highlight
- #FFE500
- Behind the words
- 4px outline
- Entrance
- None
Highlight the spoken word
Each word takes the highlight colour for exactly as long as it is being said, then hands it to the next word.
Burn them into the render
When enabled, captions are drawn in the same encode pass as the reframe, so they are part of the video rather than a separate subtitle file.
Add your handle and logo
If you set them, your handle is drawn under the captions and your logo above centre, on every clip in the run.
What you control
Pick a preset, then change any field on it. Free plans get 2 of the 12 presets and their highlight colour; paid plans get all 12 and every field.
One of 12 named starting points
Font, size, weight, caps, colours, outline or box, position, words per line
1080 x 1920 or 720 x 1280
Text line burned under the captions
Image overlaid above centre
Captioned the same way, whatever the recording.
Where it works, and where it does not
Works best with
- Clear speech
- Conversation-led video
- Distinct speaker turns
- Source footage with enough resolution to crop to vertical
What it does not do
- A style carries an outline or a background box, never both. The renderer's box replaces the outline rather than sitting behind it.
- The box is drawn around each rendered line, not as a full-width banner.
- 7 font faces, no upload of your own.
- One to five words per line, and one of three vertical positions.
- Captions are burned into the MP4 when enabled, and can be hidden before re-rendering and downloading. A finished clip's corrected transcript can also be downloaded as SRT, VTT or TXT; the full source transcript is not downloadable.
- Which of these are on the roadmap
Questions about caption styling
Ready when the recording is