Step 1Download the subtitles
- Open YouTube Studio and go to Subtitles.
- Pick the video and the language track you corrected.
- Use the options menu next to the track to download it, and choose .srt.
Using another tool? Premiere Pro, CapCut and most transcription services can export SRT or VTT too. Captyne reads both.
Step 2Clean the file
Open the .srt in any text editor (Notepad, TextEdit). Subtitles made for accessibility often contain things you don't want animated on screen:
- Sound descriptions such as
[Music]or[Laughter]: delete them. - Speaker labels such as
JOHN:: delete them. - Line breaks inside a caption: leave them. Captyne regroups the words anyway.
Leave the numbers and the --> timing lines exactly as they are. Simple formatting tags like <i> and leading dashes are removed automatically.
Step 3Line up the comp
Subtitle times count from the very start of the video. Your After Effects comp must start at the same point as the video you uploaded to YouTube. If you're making a short from part of a long video, caption the full-length comp first and then cut the section out, or trim the SRT to match.
If your comp has an intro that wasn't in the uploaded video, every caption will be early by the intro's length. Line the comp up before importing.
Step 4Import into Captyne
- Open Captyne and select your comp.
- On the Setup tab, under Already have captions?, click Import SRT / VTT and choose the file.
Captyne reads the text and timing of every subtitle and spreads the words across each one's time, giving longer words a bit more. No transcription minutes are used.
Step 5Check the timing
Scrub the Interactive Preview at a few points, especially subtitles where the speaker pauses mid-line. Words after a long pause can arrive a little early because the subtitle only knows when the whole line starts and ends.
- A few early words: fine for most social clips.
- A section that's clearly off: transcribe just that part with Transcribe: Work area only for exact word timing.
Step 6Style and generate
From here it's a normal Captyne workflow. Pick a preset, choose emphasis words (or turn on stacked blocks), and click Generate Captions. Your YouTube captions and your animated captions now say exactly the same thing.
Reuse the captions you already have
SRT and VTT import is included in every Captyne plan.
See Plans & Pricing →FAQ
Can I import YouTube's automatic captions?
Yes, if you can download them as SRT or VTT. Automatic captions often have no punctuation, which makes grouping less natural, so a quick proofread first helps.
Can I import a translated subtitle file?
Yes. Import any language. Make sure your preset's font supports that language's characters.
Where's the reference?
See How to import SRT or VTT captions in the Help Centre, and why subtitle files are a great starting point on the blog.