Open captions, or burned-in captions, are a popular way to display captions on your videos when a platform doesn’t support traditional closed captions (like Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat), or as an aesthetic choice to make the text on your video stand out. You can even burn-in foreign subtitles onto your videos and movies to prepare them for international distribution.

In the past, you generally had a few options for adding burned-in captions and subtitles to your videos. You could use a video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro to import, edit, and export your video with a captions file. There’s also a handy 3rd-party video tool called Handbrake which allows you to add open or closed captions to your videos.

These methods are tried, true, and time consuming. However, we recently announced an easier way to create burned-in captions with Rev. And, they’re now customizable!

How to Add Burned-In Captions to Videos With Rev

1. Order Captions From Rev (with Burned-In)

To add burned-in captions to your videos, go to rev.com, select captions, and click get started.

Then, add your video file from your computer or the web.

Now, select Burned-In Captions and finish the checkout process.

Once your captions order is completed by the Revver, you’ll receive a link in your email to download the new video file with permanent captions on them.

2. Customize in the Caption Editor

If you want to edit the text or change the default styling of the burned-in captions, open your video in the Rev Caption Editor. You can click the link to edit from your email, or in your Rev account under My Files.

To export your captions with different styling, click the Download button in the top right corner.

Be sure that the output file format is ‘Burned-In Captions Video’.

Now, change the BURNED-IN VIDEO CAPTIONS APPEARANCE to CUSTOMIZE and click NEXT.

From here you can change the font type, size, color, and bold or italicize your subtitles.

You can also change the background style and color from wrap, to outline, or to none.

3. Generate New Video

When you’re happy with the way your captions look in the preview window, you have the option to save this as your default styling setting before exporting. Then, click GENERATE VIDEO to create a new video file with the updated styling.

We’ll start processing the new video file and email you when it’s ready to download.

Get Captions For Any Video Platform

No matter where you distribute your videos, open captions make sure they’ll always be visible to the viewer. Rev’s burned-in captions tool makes it easier than ever to ensure your videos are accessible on platforms that don’t currently support closed captions like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.

Rather than spending hours adding your captions in a video software, order your captions from Rev and add-on burned-in captions to your order to get a new video file with customizable open captions right from our caption editor.

More Caption & Subtitle Guides