How to add captions to YouTube Shorts

YouTube gives you three built-in ways to caption a Short, and you can also burn captions into the video before uploading. They behave differently: some viewers can switch off, some they can’t, and only one gives your Short the CC label in search.

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What burned-in captions look like

A frame from a vertical video of a woman in a red dress outdoors, no text on it
Before
The same frame with a two-line caption in the Highlight style, the word “show” on a purple pill
After

Both frames come from the same clip. The right one is the exported file, rendered by the app — not a mock-up.

The three ways YouTube lets you caption a Short

1. Automatic captions. YouTube generates a caption track for Shorts as well as long videos. Viewers turn it on or off themselves. YouTube says auto captions may not be ready right after upload — how long it takes depends on the audio.

2. A caption track in YouTube Studio. In the Subtitles section you can upload a caption file, type captions, or duplicate the automatic track and correct it.

3. The Captions tool in the Shorts editor. In the YouTube app it adds automatic captions to the video that you can correct and restyle (font, text colour). YouTube says it is “only available in certain languages and mobile devices” and doesn’t list which.

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Burned-in captions vs a caption track

Captions burned into the video before upload are part of the picture. Every viewer sees them, nobody can turn them off, and they stay when the same file goes to TikTok or Instagram. You choose exactly how they look, including word-by-word highlighting.

A caption track is different: viewers can hide it, and it’s what gives a video the “CC” label in YouTube search and lets it show up under the Subtitles/CC search filter. Burned-in text doesn’t do that, because to YouTube it’s just pixels. You can use both — burned-in captions for the look, plus a caption track for the CC label.

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Burn captions into a Short on iPhone

  1. Pick the video

    Open Subtitled and choose the vertical clip from your camera roll.

  2. Generate the captions

    The app transcribes the speech and times every word. Edit any line if a word came out wrong.

    Subtitled main screen with the generated caption over the video and the trim timeline below

  3. Choose a style

    Seven styles, including Highlight and Karaoke, which follow the voice word by word.

    Subtitled Styles sheet with Highlight selected

  4. Place the text and save

    Drag the caption to where it reads best, then save the video to Photos and upload it as a Short in the YouTube app.

    Subtitled app with the caption being dragged into place

Can you turn on captions on YouTube Shorts?

Yes, if the Short has a caption track — YouTube’s automatic captions cover Shorts. In the YouTube app you can show or hide captions, and make them the default under Settings → Captions. YouTube doesn’t document a separate caption control inside the Shorts player.

If captions are part of the video itself, there is nothing to turn on or off: they’re always there.

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Why do my YouTube Shorts have captions?

Either YouTube generated a caption track and your app is set to show captions by default (YouTube app Settings → Captions, or your phone’s accessibility settings), or the creator burned captions into the video. The first can be switched off; the second can’t.

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Languages and limits

YouTube’s automatic captions support a long list of languages, Danish included. The Captions tool in the Shorts editor works only in “certain languages”, which YouTube doesn’t name.

Since 15 October 2024, a square or vertical video up to 3 minutes long is treated as a Short.

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