How to Create Subtitles for Videos Using AI

Speech recognition technology is used to automate audio and video content transcription – capable of producing high-quality audio and video content, which was previously unattainable. 

This technology is used in various industries, including the media and entertainment sectors. But the big question here is whether or not it’s enough to use AI alone to improve the efficiency of creating video subtitles, like using an online subtitle generator.  

“Looking back, you had to add timecode-based and inaccurate subtitles to videos.” 

But with the help of AI, you can now do it in just a couple of minutes. It won’t affect your existing workflow since it can work seamlessly with various cloud platforms, such as Apple iOS and macOS, Adobe’s desktop, and web apps. 

So in today’s post, we’ll walk you through the process and teach you how to create Subtitles for Videos Using AI for your video content.

Brief History of Subtitling 

Although the terms captioning and subtitling are similar, we won’t discuss their differences. Instead, we’ll use the generic term “subtitling” to refer to these two. 

The beginning of a wave of change is happening in television. During the 1970s, television began broadcasting live subtitles. 

About Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

AI, short for Artificial Intelligence, has been around for a long time, since the 1800s, and it started to show notable progress in 1971 and continued to improve until 2014. 

The development of artificial intelligence technology started to create subtitles easily, providing a quick and easy way for viewers to understand what was being said in a video. 

AI enables speech-to-text production, and its rapid emergence and evolution significantly impact how various forms of this process are done. Not only has it helped reduce costs, but it has also sped things up. 

Initially, it was regarded as an unattainable goal, but it’s now widely used in the entertainment and media industries. 

Artificial intelligence is a promising technology that can help us fill the gap left by the decline in human subtitling. 

Essential Components of AI 

• One of the most common components of artificial intelligence is the acoustic model, used to train the AI to recognize voice messages commonly spoken. 
• Vocabulary or lexicon input is included with the algorithm and parses alongside the acoustic component. 
• The third component is the overarching language, which pairs the words together and produces machine-readable speech patterns.  

How AI Works

For example, speech recognition technology utilizes AI to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the subtitled speech process. Also, it’s capable of producing high-quality transcription.  

The difference between human effort and automation is that while automation is more accurate than manual transcription, it’s also more scalable. 

But why? 

This is because Speech Recognition, an automatic speech recognition system, drives this process.

How to Create Subtitles for Videos Using AI 

It can be hard to devise and manually add subtitles to videos due to how tedious it can be, especially when the duration of your video is longer. Furthermore, ensuring your audio and video are synchronized is crucial to guarantee everything is clear.

If you’re still determining the quality of the auto-generated ones, you may need to manually add the appropriate subtitle to the video. And fortunately, there are over a hundred pre-programmed titles, such as:

• Texts
• Opening
• Closing credits

But beyond that, there are other features when using artificial intelligence subtitle generators, depending on your program.   

Artificial intelligence can solve this issue, as it can automatically generate a variety of subtitles for a single video in just a couple of minutes. 

Tip: Unless you add subtitles, the news feed will automatically turn off the audio on your social media platforms, such as Facebook. So if you want to learn more about using an automatic subtitle generator, keep scrolling.

Subtitles in Videos: Benefits of Using Artificial Intelligence to Creating Subtitles

Adding subtitles to Adobe Premiere can be daunting, especially for people who are not regular program users.  

Fortunately, with the help of these AI-based subtitle generators, it is now easy to create compelling and quick-to-follow subtitles. 

You don’t need to learn how to install and configure complex software to get started.

It Captures the Audience’s Attention 

Providing audio and text subtitles using artificial intelligence makes your videos more engaging and effective. 

Also, they capture the attention of your viewers and highlight specific phrases or words. With AI, you can easily create exciting content.

It Helps Increase the Reach of Your Video

Almost all of the videos on Facebook are watched on mute by people not listening to the audio. 

These individuals watch them in various places, such as trains, coffee shops, and public spaces. 

Because of this, you must add subtitles to your content to make it more accessible to your target audience.

It Increases the Accessibility for Those Who Have Hearing Problems

Almost 20% of the world’s population has hearing loss, and adding subtitles ensures that your content is more accessible to those who are hard of hearing or deaf. 

This is the responsibility of every content maker, and making your videos more inclusive will allow you to engage with all audiences.

Create Subtitles for Videos Using AI in 8 Ways: Your Detailed Guide 

While some technologies are developed to produce automatic subtitles, they can only accurately translate into a limited number of languages. Still, you must go through the generated text to ensure the words are spelled correctly.  

Fortunately, you can Create Subtitles for Videos Using AI easily. Check the following tools and know how you can go about them:  

Method #1. Amara – Auto Subtitle Generator

Even though Amara does not provide a fully automatic way to create or sync subtitles, it can assist you in creating subs. If you want to do it yourself, you can use Amara’s built-in features to make subtitles. 

You only need to turn all of the narration or dialogue into text, and with Amara, you can add subtitles to your video through the platform. 

You must store content to link the video on your subtitle files. Whenever you need some help, you can use an online platform, which will allow you to keep your files.

You must enter the video URL in the address box after clicking the  “Start” button. After that, the program will automatically add it to the subtitling system.

When you look at the left side of the editor,  you will see a message that confirms if you want to upload the subtitles.

After you are done making the text or subs that you want to upload, you can now click the “Upload them directly” button.

There you will be asked to pick the language to use in the video and text file you upload. Just select your preferred language, then proceed.

After you are done adding the text tile for your video, you can now click the “Edit button” to add or insert the subtitle text.

Disclaimer: This process can be complex, depending on the length of your video and how much dialogue it has. One of the most critical factors to recall is to have a lot of patience, as a couple of seconds of delay can ruin your video.

Tip: Use a speech-to-text program such as Watson or Amber Script to save time. 

Method #2. Facebook – Automatic Subtitle Generator

This technique is only available for advertisers in the US and Canada who use US English as their first language. We recommend it for users who frequently upload videos to their Facebook profiles. 

Unfortunately, this automatic subtitle isn’t that reliable. This means you have to proofread all the subtitles that AI generates, but it helps in creating subs. 

Refer to the steps below as your guide:  

1. Click the “Create Post” menu and the “Video” or “Photo” option on your Facebook page and profile. 
2. Search and add the video you want to upload, add a comment, or insert the title, whichever works for you. 
3. Once you have uploaded the video, you can now click the “Share” button.
4. Then, check if the video will appear on your profile page. If so, you now start creating subs by choosing the “Generate” button. 
5. Lastly, navigate to the “Edit Post” button and select the right video language. 

Important Reminder: Before working on subs, we highly suggest you ensure that there are no issues or errors. Then, after completing all the necessary changes, don’t forget to click the “Save to Video” button and add the subtitles to your video.

Method #3. Kapwing

In the beta version of Kapwing’s subtitle maker, a new feature allows users to generate a new subtitle automatically! 

You can upload the video URL or try a sample to experience the unique quality.

If you want to automatically generate the subtitles, here’s how you can go about it with Kapwing: 

1. Access Kapwing’s settings.
2. Then, click on the “Auto-Generate” button. 
3. In the editor interface, you can select when you want to write the text. You can also generate subtitles automatically. 
4. Upload the generated subtitles in a format you can play in the background.

Note: It is still in beta and must produce 100% accurate translations. But you can practice exploring the program at least.

Method #4. Media.io

Media.io is a simple and exciting tool that can help create excellent subtitles and audio for your video content. 

It has an AI-powered generator doing the tedious work, like converting audio tracks to the appropriate format.

So, if you want to add a couple of subs to your videos using Media.io, refer to the following steps: 

Step #1: Access Media.io and click the “Add Files” button. 

Step #2: Choose which audio or video you want to load using the “Add to” option. You can load YouTube videos by pasting the link or recording through your webcam or desktop screen.

Step #3: Don’t forget to hit the “Subtitle” button after adding the video to your editing timeline.

Step #4: Now, set the language you want to use by accessing the “Auto Subtitle” tab. Then, you can export the file to save it, and you’re done!

Method #5. Nova A.I.

Nova AI is a software that automatically creates and distributes subtitles for your videos. You can use it to hardcode the audio and video clips on top of your video. Eyes here— here’s how: 

Step #1: After uploading the video, the tool will generate a set of subtitles. Mind you— all the videos will be analyzed, and the cards will appear on the “Subtitles” panel.

Step #2: Add the appropriate subtitles to your video by uploading an existing file (such as a VTT or an SRT).  

Step #3: Adjust the timecode and add text to your video! 

For some strange reason, you should type in the subtitles manually, and Nova AI has the knowledge and skills to help you with this task. 

Method #6. Otter.ai

The free app Otter.ai is an AI-based transcription service that allows users to get high-quality work. It will enable you to import up to three files per month.

This online tool was handy, as all the transcriptions were almost perfect. You only needed to correct a few of the names that appeared in your video. 

If you want to use Otter.ai, refer to the following tips below: 

• You can quickly identify and remove unwanted voices from your audio and video files. 
• It lets you create an account and import files you want to transcribe. 
• You’ll be able to see proper sentences, including the distinction between questions and statements.
• You can change the text by staying in the program.

Method #7. VEED.IO

VEED.IO is an easy-to-use online video editor that recently added an AI-based feature that automatically allows the creation of captions and subtitles from audio files. 

But how VEED.IO works? 

It works by taking in the audio and generating the timecode and text. You can easily make changes in the editor to the auto-subtitled section of your video.

Also, you can choose from different styles of text, and once you are satisfied with the outcome, you can download it without an account by following the steps below: 

Step #1: Access the editing page of the VEED.IO’s homepage. 

Step #2: Select the Upload Video: option. (Note: The free version limits the size of your files to 50 MB, while the Pro version supports unlimited uploads!) 

Tip: You don’t need an account to use VEED, but we recommend it if you want to save your projects. 

Step #3: You can choose the language you want for the video subtitles. You can choose from three options, and the default setting is US English. 

We suggest: Selecting the software that automatically generating the subtitles and clicking “Start.” This should take around 60 seconds, depending on your video content’s length. You can see the generated subtitles and change the time codes.

Step #4: They have various styles of text that you can select from, but you can keep it set as default. 

Extra Tip: You can click the download button at the bottom if you want to burn the subtitles into the editor or export them as SRT files.

Method #8. Youtube

YouTube has a speech recognition feature – automatically generating subs for videos that have already been posted. And this is useful if you have your own channels to manage. 

However, as of now, this feature only works for specific languages and countries, such as:

• Russian
• Japanese
• German
• French
• Portuguese

So, if you want to use this option, make sure that the videos are in the languages supported by this feature.  

YouTube automatically generates subtitles for videos after they’ve been uploaded, and it’s relatively simple to do, considering the following tips:  

1. After you finish uploading your video, go to the “Video Manager.”
2. Hit the “Edit Drop Down” list next to the video you just made. (Note: Ensure the video language is set before adding CC or subtitles. So, this will make the AI aware of the language used in your video!)
3. Don’t forget to proofread the automatically generated subtitles. Go to the “Edit” button, then go through each line of text and edit the grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
4. You can confirm the changes made by clicking on the “Add” button. The closed captions will appear next to the title of the video.

Our Expert’s Tip 

One of the most effective ways to boost your search engine ranking is by adding subtitles to videos using AI tools. This process helps search engines crawl and index your website to find relevant content. 

When it comes to SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, the number one factor a website can consider is keywords, as these are the factors that robots can use to position their web pages in search results.

All Things Considered  

Automated translation and subtitling software’s rapid emergence and evolution have been called a revolution. If you’re constantly working on video editing, the time-saving capabilities of AI tools or software are beneficial. 

With the help of artificial intelligence, you can transcribe a video speech into text in minutes and create and read subs for videos with remarkable accuracy.  

In addition, AI can translate audio into multiple languages, making it easier for content creators like you to reach a global audience and connect with many viewers.   

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