Choose the final clip
Start with the Short or the exact long-form segment you plan to publish.
YouTube Shorts captions
YouTube Shorts caption generator.
Turn a vertical Short or a clipped segment from a longer video into editable captions, then export the format your YouTube workflow needs.
Start caption generationCaption the final Short, not a rough hour-long source file, when the posted clip is already selected.
How Shorts caption generation works
Generate captions
Create a timed draft for the selected clip and review the text before styling.
Export for YouTube
Download a captioned video or keep SRT, VTT, or text for upload, archive, or team review.
Shorts captions should match the final clip.
A Short usually works because one moment is clear. Captioning the whole source video can create extra cleanup if only one vertical clip will be published.
Use AutoCaption after the Short is selected or trimmed. Review the caption timing, remove lines that no longer belong, and check names, numbers, and mixed-language phrases before export.
What to check before publishing
Clip boundaries
Make sure the caption track starts and ends with the final Short, not unused source footage.
Timing
Check that captions appear with the spoken line and disappear before the next idea starts.
Searchable wording
Keep names, product terms, and topic words accurate so the caption file is useful beyond the first upload.
Vertical layout
Preview the caption style in the final Shorts frame before exporting.
Export for YouTube and reuse
Captioned video
Use this when you want the visible caption style to stay inside the Short.
SRT or VTT
Use these when YouTube, a website, archive, or teammate needs a separate timed-text file.
YouTube Shorts caption questions
Can AutoCaption generate captions for YouTube Shorts?
Yes. Upload the Short or selected source clip, generate editable timed captions, review the track, and export the available file or captioned video format.
Should I caption the whole YouTube video or only the Short?
Caption the final Short when that is the only clip being posted. Caption the full video when you also need subtitles for the long-form upload, archive, or translation workflow.
Can I export Shorts captions as SRT or VTT?
Yes. AutoCaption supports SRT and VTT export workflows after you generate and review the caption track.
Can I edit Shorts captions before export?
Yes. You can edit text, timing, line breaks, and style before downloading the final output.
What should I check before publishing a captioned Short?
Review the hook, names, numbers, local phrases, timing, line breaks, and whether the captions fit the final vertical frame.
What YouTube specifically does with a Shorts caption file
A Short is a YouTube video, so the caption rules are YouTube's rules. Shorts run up to three minutes and upload at a maximum resolution of 1080p, and YouTube publishes no separate caption documentation for them.
That means the same sixteen subtitle formats are accepted, and the same limitation applies: YouTube states that only basic versions of SubRip and SubViewer files are supported and that no style information is recognised. Colours and italics inside an SRT are discarded, so styling the file for YouTube achieves nothing. WebVTT is the format that can carry positioning, which matters more on a vertical frame where the interface covers part of the picture.
Automatic dubbing also applies. It has been enabled by default since February 2026, and English accepts more than twenty-five source languages, so a Short published in Urdu, Hindi, Tamil or Telugu may already have an English audio track you did not create and cannot edit.
Read next
Convert horizontal video to vertical
Crop a 16:9 source to 9:16 with a frame that follows the person, then caption it in the same edit.
Turning long videos into Shorts
Picking the moment, then fixing the captions that were written for a horizontal frame.
Why captions end up under the buttons
SRT cannot say where a caption goes. WebVTT can, and what to do when the platform takes neither.
Create captions for your next Short.
Upload the final clip, review the caption track, and export for posting or reuse.