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Subtitles are an important tool to engage with your viewers and ensure your video content makes an impact. If you want to learn how you can add subtitles into your Final Cut Pro X editing software, then this guide is for you!
Keep reading to learn more about captions and subtitles, how to add them into videos, and the benefits of doing so. We’ll also review how you can automatically create .SRT files by using the power of AI with Amberscript.
Subtitles and Captions: What’s the Difference?
The term subtitle refers to the text you see on your screen while watching a video. Their purpose is to translate all the spoken dialogue into written text so viewers can watch content in another language. Videos with subtitles assume that the person viewing them can hear audio cues but still need to translate the dialogue.
Although captions also translate the dialogue in the video, they also describe things like sound effects, audio cues, and music. This means that they can give additional context to the viewer even if they don’t have their sound on at all.
Creating an .SRT file
When you create video content in Final Cut Pro X, you must add subtitles to your final product. Follow this easy step by step process to get started:

1. Create an SRT File and Import It
The first step is to create a .SRT file. This unique file type includes a time-coded transcript for the video content so that you can import everything into Final Cut Pro X with minimal rearrangement or effort.
The good news is that you don’t need to create the .SRT file by hand – instead, use the automatic subtitle software provided by Amberscript! The platform includes a subtitle generator that helps you create the .SRT files from audio and video clips in minutes.

2. Generating automatic subtitles with Amberscript
Start by uploading the audio or video you want to add subtitles to and hit upload. Next, the artificial intelligence tool will start to create your transcript. Once it is complete, you can edit the file, add punctuation, and adjust grammar. When you are satisfied with the result, export it to your computer.
Additionally, you can export the subtitle in any format you want. Since you want your subtitle in the SRT file format, you pick that with optional timestamps or annotation. Learn more about different types of subtitle file formats
Creating Subtitles in Final Cut Pro X
1. After you have a completed .SRT File, it’s time to upload it into Final Cut Pro X
2. Once you uploaded the file, edit it based on your preferences
• Adjust the Subtitles as Needed
Although Final Cut Pro X will use the .SRT file as a starting point for the subtitles, you’ll likely need to make some adjustments. When you load the titles and text into your project, you must arrange the timing to ensure that everything lines as desired for your viewers.
To trim the subtitles, all you need to do is grab the block and crop it to the appropriate length. Drag and drop the titles to move them around – just do so with caution as they will overwrite existing captions when you place them on top.
• Format your Video File
So, you’ve got the subtitles uploaded and everything is in place – now what? At this point, you can choose to stylize the text or add some custom formatting to the video.
Remember that the goal of subtitles is to provide a simple solution for translating dialogue spoken in the video. However, there are times it makes sense to choose the font or the text color for the subtitles to help the viewer understand the additional context.
You can also emphasize specific parts of the subtitles by underlining them or using bold and italic formatting.
• Export your video
The last step to add subtitles in Final Cut Pro X is to export the video. There are two ways you can do this: a regular export or a caption role.
If you choose a regular export, you simply need to click File > Export and save the file accordingly. Note that the captions will not be included in the final product if you use this option.
To ensure that the video track includes the subtitles in the final export, you need to complete the following steps:
- Select Roles in the export window
- Click the Captions icon and select Burn in Captions
- Once you hit OK, it will close the window
- Choose File then Export as normal
Benefits of using Amberscript
Amberscript’s subtitle services are:
Edit your own text within minutes or leave the work to our experienced subtitlers.
Our experienced subtitlers and thorough quality controls ensure 100% accuracy of your transcriptions and subtitles.
Thanks to a variety of integrations and API interfaces, you can fully automate your workflows.
Your data is in safe hands. We are GDPR compliant + ISO27001 & ISO9001 certified.
The advantages of adding subtitles in Final Cut Pro X
Now that you’ve learned how to add subtitles in Final Cut Pro X, you may be wondering, how can they be used to boost engagement? Including subtitles in your video content can improve overall engagement by connecting with users that keep their sound off, making your content accessible, and enhancing your SEO efforts.
1. Connect with Viewers that Keep Their Sound Off
You may be surprised to learn that most people that watch videos on their mobile devices do so without turning the sound on. Whether they are in a public place and can’t turn up the audio or simply do not have access to headphones, these users need subtitles to understand the context of your videos.
2. Make your Content Accessible
Another way that subtitles increase engagement is that it makes your content accessible to everyone. Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing won’t be able to enjoy your videos to the fullest without the help of subtitles.
In other words, if you want to comply with accessibility requirements and ensure that everyone can engage with your brand, you should add subtitles to your videos.
3. Enhance your SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, refers to creating content that allows your website to rank higher on the search engine results pages. You want to be the first result when someone Googles a topic you have shared a video about, right?
Unfortunately, search engine algorithms are not able to index video content alone. However, they can if you have subtitles and an attached transcript! Use that as an opportunity to improve your SEO efforts and engage with a broader range of viewers.
More about Amberscript
Human-Made Subtitles
We already described how easy and fast it is to generate subtitles with the Amberscript software. On the other hand, in many cases you need 100% accurate transcripts. Luckily, Amberscript also offers professional services provided by native speakers in more than 15 languages.
Translated Subtitles
Our newest product is Translated Subtitles. Our team of native speakers will translate your audio into 15 languages ensuring up to 100% accuracy, so you can scale your content for a global audience.After uploading your files into your dashboard on our platform, our software will automatically generate your subtitles. This will be translated by our freelancers and our quality checker will make sure that everything is of the highest quality. You can export your file as a video with subtitles or the subtitles separately in Text, SRT, VTT or EBU-STL and many other formats.
Frequently asked questions
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Can I burn the subtitles directly onto my video?
If you have exported the transcript as a SRT, EBU-STL or VTT file, you can easily burn them onto your video using video-editing software.
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Can I export my files with timestamps?
Yes, you can. The transcript always includes timestamps in our online editor and you can choose to export the file with or without timestamps.
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Do you add timestamps?
Yes, timestamps are included in the transcript.You can choose to export the transcript with or without timestamps.
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Do you offer services in other languages?
For our human-made subtitling services we work with a network of language experts in 15 different languages. Find out which here. If the language you want is not on the list, please contact us through our contact form.
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How do I add captions to a video on Vimeo?
To add captions to your Vimeo video, simply add the file you have created using Amberscript to your video in the editing window on Vimeo. Click on “distribution”, then “subtitles” and finally click on the + symbol to upload the SRT file.
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To which languages can you translate subtitles?
For our human-made subtitling services we work with a network of language experts in 15 different languages. Find out which here. If the language you want is not on the list, please contact us through our contact form.
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What subtitle file formats are supported?
Our software allows you to export the transcript from the video or audio file as an SRT, EBU-STL or VTT file.
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Can I burn the subtitles directly onto my video?
If you have exported the transcript as a SRT, EBU-STL or VTT file, you can easily burn them onto your video using video-editing software.
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How do I generate captions?
You can generate captions automatically using Amberscript. Our software allows you to export transcription based on audio/video files as SRT, EBU-STL or VTT files, which can easily be inserted into a video-editor. Want to know more? Here is a step-by-step guide.
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How to become compliant with the WCAG 2.1?
To become compliant with the WCAG 2.1, it is important to ensure that all audio and video files and features on your website have a textual alternative and vice versa. Do you need to convert audio/video to text? Or do you want to generate captions/subtitles? You can use Amberscript to do so!