Choose Shahmukhi
For audiences in Pakistan. Perso-Arabic, right to left, and visually close to Urdu. Check line breaks carefully, because a right-to-left line that fits in a text editor can sit differently in a player.
Punjabi caption generator
Punjabi captions in the script your audience reads.
Punjabi is written two different ways. Generate an editable caption track, choose Shahmukhi or Gurmukhi deliberately, review the mixed-language lines, then export a subtitle file or a captioned video.
Pick the script before you pick anything else
This is the decision most Punjabi caption tools skip, and it is the one that decides whether your video is readable. Punjabi is not one written language. It is one spoken language with two established scripts, split by border.
In Pakistan, Punjabi is written in Shahmukhi, which comes from the Perso-Arabic script and reads right to left. It looks familiar to anyone who reads Urdu. In India, Punjabi is written in Gurmukhi, which reads left to right and is the script Sikh scripture is written in.
A viewer who reads one of these usually cannot read the other, even though the words being spoken are identical. So a Punjabi track generated in the wrong script is not slightly worse for that audience. It is unreadable. Decide who is watching, then choose.
Shahmukhi and Gurmukhi
Choose Gurmukhi
For audiences in Indian Punjab and much of the diaspora. Reads left to right, and maps sounds to letters closely, so a reviewed draft tends to read cleanly once names are corrected.
What to read before you publish
An automatic draft gets the shape of a Punjabi sentence right more often than it gets the specific words right, and captions are read closely by the people most likely to notice. Four things are worth a pass.
Names first. People, places, villages, channels and sponsors are where viewers comment. Then borrowed words: Punjabi video mixes English and Urdu constantly, and forcing every borrowed word into Punjabi spelling reads as wrong to a native speaker. Then line length, since a comfortable English line often runs past the frame in either Punjabi script. Then the encoding, because a file that is not saved as UTF-8 will upload cleanly and still display as boxes to every viewer.
If the file does come back as boxes or symbols, the subtitle encoding guide covers the fix and the one mistake that makes the damage permanent.
Publishing to two audiences
If your video reaches both sides of the border, the answer is two tracks rather than one mixed file. YouTube accepts more than one subtitle track per video, so a Shahmukhi track and a Gurmukhi track can sit on the same upload and each viewer gets the one they can read. The guide to uploading a subtitle track walks through that path.
Short-form feeds are the opposite case. Reels and TikTok ignore a subtitle file entirely, so captions have to be rendered into the picture and you get one script per upload. The burned-in and separate subtitles guide covers which destinations take which.
For a Latin-script Punjabi audience, the same habits apply as for Roman Urdu captions. For Urdu-script video, use the Urdu subtitle generator, and for Hindi-English speech the Hinglish caption workflow.
Punjabi caption questions
Should my Punjabi captions use Shahmukhi or Gurmukhi?
It depends on where your audience is, not on the language. Punjabi in Pakistan is written in Shahmukhi, a Perso-Arabic script that reads right to left. Punjabi in India is written in Gurmukhi, which reads left to right. The same spoken sentence is unreadable to an audience that does not read the script you picked.
Can one subtitle file carry both scripts?
It should not. Mixing Shahmukhi and Gurmukhi inside one file forces every reader through half a track they cannot read, and it mixes reading directions inside the same cue. Generate one track per script and publish them as separate subtitle tracks where the platform allows it.
Why does my Punjabi subtitle file show boxes?
Almost always the file was not saved as UTF-8, so the script did not survive. Both Punjabi scripts need UTF-8. If the encoding is correct and boxes remain, the player's font may have no glyphs for that script.
What about Punjabi speech mixed with English or Urdu?
Code-switching is normal in Punjabi video, and an automatic draft usually handles the shape of a sentence better than the specific borrowed words. Read the draft and decide per word whether the English or Urdu term should stay as it was spoken or be written in the Punjabi script.
Can I write Punjabi captions in Latin letters instead?
Yes, and some social audiences prefer it, the same way Roman Urdu is often preferred over Urdu script. If that is your audience, the Roman Urdu caption generator covers the Latin-script workflow and the same review habits apply. Open the Roman Urdu caption generator.
What can I export?
Reviewed Punjabi captions export as SRT or VTT subtitle files, plain text, or a captioned video, depending on where the video is going. Short-form feeds need the captions rendered into the picture; YouTube and web players take a subtitle file.
Start a Punjabi caption track
Transcribe the video, choose the script, review names and borrowed words, then export SRT, VTT, text, or a captioned video.