# Text, captions and subtitles

> Add and style text clips, generate captions from a transcript, and import embedded subtitle tracks.

Formats Studio docs · Creative tools · https://formats.app/docs/text-captions-subtitles · Updated 2026-09-28

## Three related things

| Kind | What it is | Starts from |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Text clip | A standalone timeline item you type into | Create dock → Text |
| Captions | Generated lines that ride on a video or audio clip | A clip transcript |
| Subtitles | A cue track on the timeline | An embedded track, or consolidated captions |

## Add and style a text clip

1. Open **Text** in the Create dock, then click **Add text** or a style to place text at the playhead — or drag a style onto the timeline or canvas.
2. Use the left rail to browse **Essentials**, **Social**, and **Lower thirds**. The active collection includes minimal, serif, condensed, mono, commerce, story, CTA, and professional ID styles. Each card uses the same typography and text plate that will be inserted; the checker behind it is preview space and is not added.
3. In the **Text** section set font, size (8–500 px), weight, color, background, alignment, spacing, line height, padding, and radius.
4. Add shadow or stroke under **Effects**, and animate the text under **Text Animation**.

## Text animation

In the **Text Animation** section of a text clip’s **Animation** tool (under **Creative tools** in the Inspector), each character, word, or line can animate independently. Text animation stays live and procedural, so there are no layer keyframes to manage.

1. Select a text clip, open **Animation** under **Creative tools**, and find the **Text Animation** section.
2. Pick a preset in the **In**, **Out**, or **Loop** row. **In** plays at the clip start, **Out** at the clip end, and **Loop** runs continuously between them.
3. Click the active preset again (or its ✕) to remove it — one preset per row.
4. Tune the controls that appear under the active preset.

| Control | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| Applies to | The unit each preset animates: Character, Word, Line, or Whole clip. |
| Duration | Length, in frames, of each unit’s animation. |
| Stagger | Frames of delay between each unit, for a cascading effect. |
| Order | Which unit animates first: Forward, Backward, Center out, or Random. |
| Intensity | Scales the effect strength, from 0 to 200 percent. |

> **Tip:** The **Applied** list shows each live text-motion slot. Select an entry to move the playhead to where it starts.

## Captions from a transcript

1. Start from **AI Captions** on the Projects page, or open **Captions** for media already on the timeline.
2. Formats transcribes speech, places word-timed captions on the source clip, and opens the review task automatically.
3. Correct words and timing, then use **Premium** to browse 87 gallery-visible caption templates, including Golden Script, City Title, Amber Glow, Classic Statement, Handwritten Focus, Heavyweight, Neo Stack, and Flowing Text.
4. Use **Project style** for the whole video or **Line override** for one cue. Templates can mix font families and hierarchy roles, use gradient text fills, or add a rounded caption plate.

> **Tip:** Automatic hierarchy picks meaningful words for primary and accent treatments. Playback changes paint, opacity, or underline without resizing words, so lines stay stable instead of bouncing. Explicit word emphasis still wins when you need precise art direction.

> **Note:** Choose **1. Audio language** to help recognition, then choose **2. Caption result** to control the text. Verified Indian languages offer their native script, Keep English words, Latin letters, English translation, and Exact speech. For Hinglish, choose **Hindi**, then **Keep English words** to show “मुझे coffee चाहिए”; **Latin letters** shows “Mujhe coffee chahiye.” Use **Auto detect** when a language is not listed.

## Embedded and imported subtitles

- Use **Extract Embedded Subtitles** on a media card to scan a file for subtitle tracks.
- In the **Embedded subtitles** dialog, pick a track — each row shows its language, codec, and cue count.
- Insert the track to add its cues to the timeline as a subtitle segment.
- Edit each cue start, end, and text in the **Subtitle** section, and set whole-cue Italic, Bold, or Underline.

## Transcript editing tools

The Transcript panel is for reviewing words, timing and caption flow. Cutting the video by its words is something you ask your agent for: it can cut or keep transcript spans, find retakes and assemble the best ranges, and each change arrives as a reviewable timeline edit. **Remove Silence** and **Remove Filler Words** are also in a clip’s right-click menu.

- Search the transcript with next and previous match controls, then click a word to jump the playhead there.
- Drag across words to select them. For selected caption words you can delete them, copy caption text, add emphasis or accent styling, insert line breaks or page breaks, or clear formatting.
- Choose whether formatting and cleanup apply to the **Selection** or the **Whole project**.
- Use the word-timing editor to correct individual word boundaries.
- Open **Flow & timing** to set words per page, lines per page, max characters per line, remove punctuation, emphasis or emojis, fill caption gaps, and adjust caption delay.

## Subtitles on export

> **Note:** Turn on **Embed subtitles** in the export settings to include transcript captions as a subtitle track (MP4, MKV, WebM). Some players hide subtitle tracks by default, so viewers may need to switch them on.

## Related

- [Shapes and masks](https://formats.app/docs/shapes-masks): Add shape items, draw custom paths with the pen tool, and use any shape as a clip mask.
- [Clip properties](https://formats.app/docs/properties): Transform, crop, opacity and blend, and the type-specific controls for each kind of clip.
- [Local AI and transcription](https://formats.app/docs/local-ai): What runs on your Mac and what runs hosted: Local AI for your footage, and transcription.
- [Keyframes](https://formats.app/docs/keyframes): Animate transform, crop, text, effect, and audio values with keyframes and ready-made animations.