Free video subtitles SRT & VTT subtitle generator
Upload a video and get ready-to-use SRT and VTT captions, no account, no watermark, no per-minute fee.
Perfect for YouTube, Reels and TikTok, or to make any video accessible.
No account. 10 recordings a day. Files up to 60 minutes here, and it resets at midnight.
Plain transcript and subtitles right here. Bleeping, translation and burned-in subtitles live in the full tool.
Upload the video: we handle the audio
Drop the video file directly (MP4, MOV, MKV, WEBM…). ScribeGrab pulls the audio, transcribes it with timecodes on our GPU, and gives you a properly formatted subtitle file. No need to extract audio yourself or install anything. Is the video already on YouTube? Paste the link into our YouTube transcript tool instead and skip the upload.
Works the same at feature length as it does for a two-minute clip — generating subtitles for a movie or lecture just takes longer to process, not a different tool. Free either way, English or any other major language, automatically timed with no manual syncing.
How to use the subtitles
- YouTube: upload the SRT in Subtitles → Add, and it lines up automatically.
- Editing software: import the SRT/VTT into Premiere, DaVinci, CapCut, etc.
- Web video: reference the VTT with a <track> tag for HTML5 captions.
- Players: drop the SRT next to your video file with the same name.
Video formats, and how the audio gets pulled out
Upload the video as-is — ScribeGrab reads MP4, MOV, MKV, WEBM, AVI, M4V, MPEG and more, up to 60 minutes and 1.5 GB. You don't extract the audio yourself, don't convert to a "supported" format, and don't install anything: the tool separates the audio track for you, transcribes it with timecodes, and builds the subtitle file. Whatever your camera, screen recorder or editor exported, drop it straight in.
How to transcribe a YouTube video
Fastest way: paste the video's link on the homepage and ScribeGrab fetches it for you. Want proper subtitles from the actual audio (usually more accurate than YouTube's own auto-captions) instead of whatever captions already exist? Upload the file directly:
- Get the video file. Your own upload? Download the original from YouTube Studio → Content → Download. Someone else's video? Ask the creator for the file, or use YouTube's own Download button where it's offered, and only for content you have the right to use.
- Drop the MP4 in above. No conversion, no audio extraction — ScribeGrab pulls the audio track out for you.
- Download your SRT, VTT and transcript. Timecoded and ready to upload straight back into YouTube's subtitle editor.
Uploading the file yourself always transcribes the real audio, so it's the more accurate route regardless of what's on YouTube already. Pasting the link is the shortcut when speed matters more than that extra accuracy.
Which videos benefit most from captions
- YouTube videos: captions widen your audience (viewers watching muted, non-native speakers, deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers) and give YouTube real text to index instead of guessing from auto-captions.
- Educational and tutorial videos: learners follow along and scrub back to a term; a transcript doubles as study notes.
- Social clips (TikTok, Reels, Shorts): most viewing is silent, so on-screen text is what keeps people watching. Use the SRT in your editor to burn captions in.
- Instagram and Facebook posts: subtitles for Instagram reels and feed videos boost watch time the same way most social clips do — sound off by default, so the words carry the first few seconds.
- Webinars and training: a subtitle file turns a long recording into something searchable and accessible for a whole team.
Video quality and how accurate the captions are
The captions are only ever as good as the speech in the video. Clear narration or a single presenter close to the mic comes out very accurately. Several people talking over each other, a distant camera mic, or phone-audio compression will need a proofread pass before you publish. Background music generally isn't a problem — the model focuses on the speech and ignores most non-speech sound. For the full picture on what accuracy to expect, see how accurate AI transcription really is.
Free subtitles generator — for video or audio alone
This is where you generate subtitles from video without picking a plan first: you can generate subtitles from video free, and going from video to subtitles is one upload. As a free subtitle generator it takes video up to 60 minutes per file with no account, and the timestamps come out automatically, so it works as an auto subtitle generator and an auto caption generator in one: the speech model times every line while it transcribes, which is where the auto subtitles come from. The AI is only doing that one job, and so this is video AI for speech only; there is no avatar or video generator here. Used as a video caption generator or a video subtitle generator, it gives you video captions and subtitles for video you can load anywhere. No video file yet? Upload just the audio track and you still get a timed SRT/VTT pair, ready to sync once you have picture.
The speech model recognises around 100 languages on its own, so Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic and more come out without picking a language first. For English subtitles, leave it on English (or let it detect) and download. For a second language, translate subtitles reuses the same upload, and many players can show two subtitle tracks if you load both files.
One honest limit: this page only hands you the SRT/VTT files. It isn't a subtitle editor with a styling panel, so add subtitles on video and style them afterwards in whatever editor you already use; in CapCut that's the Text panel, then Import captions. It also only adds subtitles: there's no remove tool here, so you can't remove subtitles from video files or remove video subtitles that are already burned in.
How big the files actually are
Across 3,992 measured uploads in the 40 days to 21 August 2026, the average file was 19.5 MB and the largest was 127.01 MB — nowhere near the 1.5 GB ceiling. Every single one, 100% of them, sat comfortably under the size limit; not one landed within 10% of it and not one went over. That's the opposite pattern from how long a recording runs, where plenty of people bump into the 60-minute limit: the size limit on this tool is essentially never the problem. What does trip people up here is getting the audio out of the video at all — "We couldn't get the audio for that video" was the second most common error on the whole site, hit 65 times in the same window, usually a video with no usable audio track rather than anything wrong with the upload itself.
Large files are fine: this box and the homepage tool both take video up to 1.5 GB and 60 minutes, and a big video file is uploaded in pieces automatically, so nothing needs trimming first. The same upload also makes it a video to text converter, as the next section explains.
Also just need the text? Video to text works the same way
Not every video needs captions, sometimes you just want the words as plain text: a quote for an article, a script to edit, or a transcript to search through. Upload the same MP4 (or MOV, MKV, WEBM) here and ScribeGrab hands you both (SRT/VTT subtitles and a plain TXT transcript) from that one upload. So whether the job is "video to text" or "MP4 to text", there's no separate tool to go find: the transcript comes out alongside the captions every time.
Looking for an auto subtitle generator? See the subtitle generator page. Only need the words? Video to text.
By Sam Ridder — I build and run ScribeGrab on my own hardware, on my own. Who I am.
Frequently asked
Is it really free?
Yes, no account, no watermark, 10 recordings a day, no per-minute charge. Ads keep the GPU running. The video subtitles generator free tier is the full tool; a paid pass exists for longer files and extras, but it isn't needed to generate subtitles.
SRT or VTT: which do I need?
SRT for YouTube and most editors; VTT for HTML5 web players. You get both, plus a plain TXT, so use whichever fits — see our full SRT vs VTT comparison for the details.
Which video formats work?
MP4, MOV, MKV, WEBM, AVI and more, up to 1.5 GB and 60 minutes. The video audio track is pulled out automatically.
Can I just paste a YouTube link?
Yes: paste the link on the homepage and ScribeGrab fetches it for you, instantly if the video already has captions, or by transcribing the audio if it doesn't. For your own uploads, downloading the original from YouTube Studio and uploading that file always gets our own transcription of the real audio.
What about my file's privacy?
Deleted right after processing; results wiped within 45 minutes (24 hours with any pass, free or paid). See privacy.
How to add subtitles to a video online free?
To add subtitles to video online free, upload the video here and ScribeGrab transcribes the audio and returns SRT and VTT subtitle files in minutes, no account needed. That's how to add subtitles to a video when there are no existing captions at all: the audio is transcribed and timed automatically.
How can I add subtitles to a video for YouTube?
Generate the SRT file here, then upload it in YouTube Studio under Subtitles; YouTube lines it up with the video automatically, no extra software needed.
What is the difference between subtitles and closed captions?
Subtitles render the dialogue; closed captions also describe non-speech sounds like [music] or [door slams] for viewers who can't hear them. Both use the same SRT/VTT format, but this tool writes down speech only, so add sound descriptions yourself if you need true closed captions.
Can I attach subtitles to a video without re-rendering the whole file?
Yes. A separate SRT or VTT file works as a sidecar: the video file stays untouched and the captions load alongside it in any player that supports them. To put the text into the picture instead, use burn subtitles into video.
How accurate are the subtitles for non-English videos?
The model handles most major languages automatically. Accuracy is high on clear speech; heavy accents or strong background noise are harder regardless of language.
Can I add subtitles to several videos?
Yes: you can add subtitles to video free one at a time, up to 10 a day. There's no batch upload, but nothing stops you running several clips in a row.
How does this compare to Veed io or Clideo subtitles?
Both put subtitles inside a full online video editor, which is handy if you want to style and export in one place; on their free plans the exports are limited and can carry a watermark. ScribeGrab is a plain SRT/VTT generator, free, with no watermark and no account.
Is this an AI subtitles generator?
Yes. A speech model listens to the audio, times every word and builds the subtitle file automatically, so there's nothing to time by hand and nothing to touch on a timeline.
Can I get ScribeGrab subtitles from a video, not just a plain transcript?
Yes: upload the video and ScribeGrab hands you SRT and VTT subtitle files together with a plain TXT transcript from that one upload.
Can it pull out a subtitle track a video already has?
No. This page transcribes the spoken audio fresh rather than extracting an embedded track, which works whether or not the video had subtitles in the first place.
Is it a subtitles converter, for SRT to VTT?
No, it makes new subtitles from the audio. Every upload gives you both SRT and VTT anyway, and the SRT vs VTT page shows how to convert one by hand.
Is there an app to install?
No. It all works from the browser on a phone or desktop, while the transcription runs on computers we run ourselves. Upload the video, wait, download the subtitle files.