Free tool
Add subtitles to MOV
Use this page to add subtitles to MOV videos from an iPhone, QuickTime Player or a Mac screen recording. The captions from your SRT or VTT are burned into the picture, upright even on portrait clips, and the result is a MOV again, ready for Photos, iMovie or Final Cut.
- Free
- Portrait videos stay upright
- Nothing is uploaded
1. The video
Drop your MOV video here, or Choose your MOV video
MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV, up to 2 GB and 3 hours. Everything happens in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
2. The subtitles
SRT, VTT, SBV or ASS. No subtitles yet? Make them from the video with the subtitle generator.
How it works
How do you add subtitles to an iPhone video?
AirDrop or save the video to your Mac, or open this page on the iPhone, and choose it with its SRT file. Pick the caption size, look and position, check one in the preview, and press Burn in subtitles. The MOV comes back with the words in the picture.
- 1
Get the MOV
From Photos (AirDrop, Save to Files or Export Unmodified Original), QuickTime Player, or the desktop for a screen recording.
- 2
Add the SRT and preview
To add SRT to MOV, choose the file; the preview shows a real frame of your video with a caption on it.
- 3
Burn in and save
The MOV is re-encoded with the captions in it; the original stays as it was.
Will captions be the right way up on a portrait video?
Yes. An iPhone stores a portrait video sideways with an instruction to turn it; the tool turns the picture first, then draws the captions across the bottom of the upright frame. Our test clip went in stored as 1280 × 720 on its side and came out 720 × 1280.
On a tall frame the captions wrap to the narrower width, so a line that fits on one row of a landscape video may take two on a portrait one.
Can a MOV have a subtitle track you can turn off?
A MOV can, but not one made by this tool: it writes subtitle tracks into MP4 and MKV files only. If you want captions people can switch off in QuickTime Player, choose Subtitle track and save as MP4; it holds the same video, copied without re-encoding.
What about HEVC videos from an iPhone?
Burning in needs a browser that can decode HEVC, the format iPhones record in on High Efficiency. Safari does, so open this page in Safari for those. In a browser that can’t, the tool says so before it starts, or set the iPhone to Most Compatible for H.264.
- Most Compatible (H.264)
- SafariBurns in
- Browsers without an HEVC decoderBurns in
- High Efficiency (HEVC)
- SafariBurns in
- Browsers without an HEVC decoderSays it can’t decode HEVC
| Recorded as | Safari | Browsers without an HEVC decoder |
|---|---|---|
| Most Compatible (H.264) | Burns in | Burns in |
| High Efficiency (HEVC) | Burns in | Says it can’t decode HEVC |
How do you get subtitles for an iPhone recording?
Transcribe it on your Mac. NoteOwl imports the MOV, transcribes it with each speaker labelled and exports SRT, with times that match the video. Bring that SRT here, or fix a line first with the subtitle editor.
FAQ
Questions about adding subtitles to a MOV
Is my video uploaded?
No. The MOV and the subtitle file are read from your device and the new MOV is made in the page. In our tests no network request left the browser while the captions were burned in.
Can I do this on my iPhone?
Yes, in Safari. Choose the video from Photos and the SRT from Files, burn the captions in, and Safari saves the MOV to the Downloads folder in the Files app; from there, Save Video puts it in Photos.
Will the MOV open in iMovie and Final Cut?
Yes. It’s an H.264 MOV with the sound copied from the original, the format both open. The captions are part of the picture, so they appear on the timeline as the video does.
Why is the MOV a different size from the original?
Because the picture is re-encoded to draw the captions in, at a bitrate chosen to look the same as the original; it can come out a little smaller or larger. The sound is copied as it is.
Can I put the captions at the top?
Yes. Choose Top under Position, for videos that have something important along the bottom, such as a speaker’s name or a phone’s on-screen controls in a screen recording.
Does it work with a Mac screen recording?
Yes. Screen recordings are MOV files with H.264 video, so any browser can burn captions into them. Wide recordings get captions sized to the frame, the same as a camera video.
Keep exploring
Add subtitles to video
- Add subtitles to WebMBurn subtitles into a WebM in your browser (re-encoded as VP9), or keep them separate as a VTT for a web page’s video
- Add subtitles to videoBurn an SRT, VTT or ASS file into a video, or add it as a subtitle track, in your browser; long lines, two-line captions, any script, right to left
- Add subtitles to MP4Add an SRT or VTT to an MP4 in your browser: burned into the picture for social posts, or as a subtitle track QuickTime and Safari can switch on
Related
- MOV to MP4 converterTurn a MOV (iPhone video, QuickTime or Mac screen recording) into an MP4 in your browser, copying H.264 and HEVC video as it is
- Subtitle shifterMove every caption in an SRT, VTT, SBV or ASS file earlier or later, or re-sync it from two points; only the times change
- Subtitle generatorTurn a recording into an SRT subtitle file with timecodes and speaker names, on your Mac
Subtitles for your recordings, from your Mac
Free to download. Runs entirely on your Mac.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) · 16 GB memory minimum, 24 GB recommended
About NoteOwl
NoteOwl is private AI meeting notes and memory for the Mac. It captures meetings without a bot joining the call, labels every speaker, writes summaries and action items, and builds a memory of every conversation that you can chat with — fully offline, because the speech recognition and the AI run on the Mac itself. Dictation into any app is free; Pro is a one-time purchase.
NoteOwl pricing: what’s free and what Pro adds
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