How to Export SRT Subtitles from iPhone for YouTube

YouTube lets you upload subtitles as a separate file instead of drawing them into the video. Viewers can then turn them on and off with the CC button, and you can add a file for each language. The most common format for these files is SRT.

This guide covers making an SRT file on your iPhone with CapCap, the app we make, and then uploading it to YouTube.

What an SRT file is

An SRT file is plain text. Each subtitle has a number, a start and end time, and the line itself:

1
00:00:01,200 --> 00:00:03,800
I always wanted to learn Spanish.

2
00:00:04,100 --> 00:00:06,500
So this year I finally started.

Because it's only text, you can open and edit it in any text editor.

Step 1: Caption the video

Open CapCap, tap New Project, pick the video and set Video language. To get the subtitles in another language, also set a Translation language. Tap Transcribe now.

Step 2: Fix the text

Go through the subtitles once. Tap a sentence to edit it, and drag a caption's edges on the timeline if its timing is off. Whatever you fix here ends up in the file.

Step 3: Export the SRT file

Tap Export, then Export Subtitle (SRT) File. Save it to Files, or AirDrop it to your computer. SRT export is included in the free plan.

Step 4: Upload it to YouTube

These steps are in YouTube Studio, from YouTube's own help page:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. In the left menu, select Subtitles.
3. Select the video.
4. Click Add language and choose the language of your file.
5. Under Subtitles, click Add.
6. Select Upload file.
7. Choose With timing, then Continue. An SRT file already has timings in it.
8. Choose your SRT file and select Save.

This works for Shorts as well as regular videos.

Adding more languages

Repeat the steps for each language. Caption the same project again with a different translation language, export a new SRT file, and add it in YouTube Studio under that language. Captioning a project again in CapCap doesn't use up another free video.

SRT file or subtitles in the video?

An SRT file lets viewers choose, and YouTube can read the text. Subtitles drawn into the video always show, look the way you styled them, and work on platforms that don't accept subtitle files, such as Instagram Reels. You can export both from the same project. Burned-in vs. closed captions explains which to use where.

If you already have an SRT file, CapCap can also go the other way: Import subtitle puts the file onto your video, so you can style it and draw it in.