About the Add Text to Video
Add Text to Video draws a line or paragraph of text onto your video and saves a new file with the words built into the picture. You choose the words, the time they show from and until, whether they sit at the top, middle or bottom, how big they are and what colour. A dark box behind the text is optional; without it the letters get a thin outline so they stay readable on bright or busy footage. The text is drawn in your browser, nothing is uploaded and no watermark is added.
Updated October 2026
How to use the Add Text to Video
- 1Select a video.
- 2Type the text you want to show. Press Enter for a new line.
- 3Set when it appears and disappears, or leave the end empty to keep it to the end.
- 4Pick the position, size and colour, and choose whether to put a box behind it.
- 5Press Add text, preview the result and download it.
Where to put your text
The bottom is the usual place for captions and names, because that is where viewers expect them. A title at the start works well in the middle or at the top. On vertical videos for phones, keep important words away from the very bottom, where apps often show buttons and descriptions over the picture.
- Bottom: captions, credits, names of people
- Top: headings, dates, locations
- Middle: short titles and call-outs
Choosing size and colour
Medium text is about six percent of the picture height, which reads well on a phone. Large and extra large are better for short titles. White text with an outline is the most readable on mixed footage; yellow stands out on dark scenes; black works on bright backgrounds. If you are unsure, tick the dark box and use white or yellow.
Timing the text
Give people enough time to read. As a rule, allow about one second for every three words, and never less than two seconds. Type times as plain seconds such as 75, or as minutes and seconds such as 1:15. The start must be before the end of the video and the end must come after the start.
Text on videos and accessibility
Burned in text is part of the picture, so viewers cannot turn it off or resize it, and screen readers cannot read it. For speech, it is better to use real subtitles when the platform supports them; the Add Subtitles to Video tool burns in a whole subtitle file when you need captions that work everywhere, such as in a social post.
Related edits
Trim the clip first with Trim Video so the text timing matches the shorter file. To label a still picture rather than a video, use Add Text to Image. If the finished video is too big to send, Video Compressor makes it smaller, and Blur Part of Video can hide a name or number you do not want to show.
Features
- Caption or title on any part of the video
- Top, middle or bottom position
- Four sizes and six colours
- Readable outline or dark box behind the text
- Long lines wrap to fit the picture
- No watermark and no upload
Frequently asked questions
How do I make the text show only for a few seconds?
Type a start and end time, for example 2 and 8, or 0:02 and 0:08. The text appears at the start time and disappears at the end time. Leave the end empty to keep it until the video ends.
Can I add more than one piece of text?
This tool adds one text block. To add several captions at different times, use Add Subtitles to Video with a subtitle file, or run the tool again on the result.
Which fonts does it use?
A bold sans-serif font from your own device. That keeps the text sharp and means no font files are sent anywhere, but it also means the exact look varies a little between Windows, Mac, Android and iPhone.
Does it support other languages and emoji?
Yes, as far as your device's fonts do. Accents, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and emoji usually work, though right to left text is drawn as your browser lays it out.
Will the text be hard to read on a bright video?
Use the dark box option, or pick black text on a bright scene. Without the box, a dark outline is drawn around each letter.
Is the picture quality reduced?
The video has to be encoded again to draw the text in it, so there is a small loss. The tool aims for the same bitrate as your original.
Can I change the text later?
The text becomes part of the picture, so keep your original video and run the tool again with new words if you want a change.
Is my video uploaded?
No. The text is drawn and the video is saved inside your browser, on your device.