Subtitle Generator: Video & Audio to SRT and VTT Subtitles

Generate ready-to-use SRT and VTT subtitle files from any video or audio. Paste a file link, a Google Drive or Dropbox share link, or upload a file, and download subtitles with clean line breaks and accurate timing.

• Real subtitles, not a raw transcript. Lines are kept short, subtitles break at sentence ends and pauses, and nothing stays on screen too long.
• Made for your format. Choose the line length: 42 characters for landscape video, about 20 to 25 for Shorts, Reels and TikTok.
• 99+ languages with automatic language detection (Whisper large-v3).
• Pay per audio minute. No subscription, and nothing charged for files that fail.
• Fast. One hour of video is typically ready in about a minute.

What you can provide

Input	Example
Direct file link	https://example.com/video.mp4
Google Drive share link	https://drive.google.com/file/d/FILE_ID/view
Dropbox share link	https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/.../video.mp4?rlkey=...
File upload	Use the Or upload a file field

Any common format works: MP4, MOV, WEBM, MKV, MP3, M4A, WAV and more, up to 1.5 GB per file. Share links must be set to "anyone with the link can view".

How to use

1. Get a link to your video or audio file: a direct file URL, or a Google Drive or Dropbox link shared with "anyone with the link". Or use Or upload a file.
2. Paste the link into Video or audio file URLs.
3. Optionally adjust the line length: keep 42 for landscape video, use 20 to 25 for vertical video.
4. Click Start. When the run finishes, open the Output tab and click the SRT or VTT link to download your subtitle file.

Output

One dataset item per file, with download links to the two subtitle files:

{
    "inputUrl": "https://example.com/video.mp4",
    "status": "ok",
    "fileName": "video.mp4",
    "language": "English",
    "durationSeconds": 20,
    "transcribedMinutes": 1,
    "truncated": false,
    "subtitleCount": 4,
    "srtUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/STORE_ID/records/001-video.srt",
    "vttUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/STORE_ID/records/001-video.vtt",
    "text": "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things..."
}

A generated SRT file looks like this:

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,120
We choose to go to the moon in this decade
and do the other things,

2
00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,480
not because they are easy,
but because they are hard.

The files are also listed in the run's Storage → Key-value store tab. Turn on Also include the SRT text in the results to get the SRT content directly in each item, which is convenient from the API.

Subtitle settings

Setting	Default	Use it for
Maximum characters per line	42	Lower it (20 to 25) for vertical video
Maximum lines per subtitle	2	Set to 1 for single-line captions
Maximum seconds per subtitle	6	Lower it for fast-paced edits

Pricing

You pay for each minute of audio processed, rounded to the nearest minute (minimum one minute per file). Set Maximum minutes per file or the run's maximum charge to cap spending: the Actor stops before exceeding either, and marks a cut file with "truncated": true.

Limits

• Links must point to a file, not a web page. YouTube, TikTok and other video-page links are not supported.
• Subtitles are written in the language spoken in the file. Translation is not included.
• No speaker labels.
• Videos up to about 2 hours. Cut longer videos into parts first.
• The subtitle files are text files to load into your editor or player. Subtitles are not burned into the video.

FAQ

How do I generate SRT subtitles for a video?

Paste a link to the video file or upload it, then start the run. Each result contains a download link to an SRT file and a VTT file.

What is the difference between SRT and VTT?

Both hold the same subtitles and timings. SRT is the format most video editors and players import (Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, CapCut, VLC, YouTube). VTT is the format used by web video players and HTML5 video.

How do I make subtitles for Shorts, Reels or TikTok?

Set Maximum characters per line to about 20 to 25 and Maximum lines per subtitle to 1 or 2. Subtitles then stay short enough to read on a vertical screen.

How accurate are the timings?

Subtitles are timed from the moment each word is spoken, and break at sentence ends and pauses. Text accuracy is that of Whisper large-v3: very good on clear speech, with possible mistakes on names, jargon and noisy audio.

How long does it take and how much does it cost?

A one-hour video typically takes about a minute and costs $0.18. Price is $0.003 per minute, with nothing charged for files that fail.

Can it translate subtitles into another language?

Not yet. Subtitles are written in the language spoken in the file.

Can I add subtitles to a YouTube or TikTok link?

No. Links must point to a file. Export or download your video first, then upload it or share it through Google Drive or Dropbox.

What happens to my file?

The file is downloaded during the run, its audio is sent to our speech-to-text provider (Groq) to be transcribed, and it is deleted when the run ends. Subtitle files are stored only in your own Apify account.

Related

For plain transcripts with timestamps, use Audio & Video to Text. For podcasts, use Spotify Podcast Transcript.