How to make an .SRT file to generate captions

It's a text file that contains words and phrases said in the video. Such files can be used alongside with video files, or online video players to provide subtitles track.

Automatic captioning comes with the Business subscription only, but that doesn't mean you can't use captions with Free or Creator plan. You can create captions outside of wave.video and add them in the existing project.

There are at least two ways of creating SRT files.

Create a blank text document in Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac)

Now we can start. SRT is a text with special symbols that tells the video player where the subtitle line should be shown. Nothing complicated here:

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,400
You look like a clown in that jacket.

2
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:06,500
This is a snakeskin jacket! And for me, it's a symbol of my individuality, and my belief... 
3
00:00:06,550 --> 00:00:07,100
in personal freedom.

Let's check what this SRT file is made of:

• 1, 2, 3 are the sequence numbers.

• 00:00:00,000 is a time format: hour : minute : second, millisecond

• Blank line is dividing the sequences

• --> is a special sign that shows how long the line will be displayed on the screen

Structure your text as in the example above and save it as an SRT file. When you got the file, just go to the wave.video editor and upload it:

Need to create captions more efficiently? Try any of the apps made especially for this!

For Windows users, we recommend Subtitle Edit. It's a free and powerful tool for captions. Mac users can check options at the store.

Here's an example with Subtitle Edit:

1. Open the app

2. You'll see an empty table

3. Click with right mouse button

4. Click on “Insert line”

After adding a line, you'll see editing options:

1. Change duration and text

2. Repeat for each new line

That's all!

1. How to add captions to your video

2. How to style up video captions