# How to add subtitles to a video in the Concat video editor

> Download a Whisper model in Settings, click the captions button on the timeline toolbar, switch on Use voice from timeline and click Generate captions. Concat places timed subtitles on their own track, offline and free.

URL: https://concatvideoeditor.com/guides/add-subtitles-to-a-video
Updated: 2026-10-18
Source: Concat Video Editor Guide, an independent guide. Not the official Concat website.

The Concat video editor makes subtitles from the speech in your project using Whisper, which runs on your own computer. Nothing uploads, there is no minute limit, and the result is a row of caption clips you can edit like any other text.

## What do you need before you start?

You need Concat installed and one Whisper model. Open **Settings**, choose **Transcriber** and download a model. The list in Concat 0.2.7 has Tiny (78 MB), Base (148 MB) and Small (488 MB), each in English and multilingual versions. We used **Base (English)**.

![Transcriber settings in the Concat video editor with Whisper models from 78 MB to 488 MB](/images/feat-transcriber-models.webp)

## How do you add subtitles in the Concat video editor?

1. Import your video and drag it onto the timeline. Make sure the clip with speech, or a voiceover, is on the timeline.
2. Click the **T** captions button on the timeline toolbar.
3. Switch on **Use voice from timeline**.
4. Under **Transcriber**, pick the audio clip and the model.
5. Choose a **Placement** (Bottom, Centre or Top) and a **Size** (Small, Medium or Large).
6. Click **Generate captions**.

![Captions dialog in the Concat video editor with Use voice from timeline switched on](/images/feat-captions.webp)

In our test, a 7-second English voiceover was transcribed in about 20 seconds on a CPU without a graphics card. The captions appeared as a pink title clip on the top lane, timed to the words.

## How do you change the subtitle style?

Click a caption clip and the right panel shows its text settings: font, weight, size, italic, color, opacity, drop shadow and background. The **Text** tab also has preset styles such as Bold caption, Poster and Lower third. Click a caption in the preview to move or resize it.

## Can you type the subtitles instead?

Yes. Leave **Use voice from timeline** off and type your words into **Script**. The Concat video editor splits the text into phrases and holds each one long enough to read. This is handy for silent clips, music videos or when you already have a transcript.

## What did the result look like?

![A frame exported from the Concat video editor with auto subtitles at the bottom](/images/ba-captions-after.webp)

The transcript was accurate on a clear voice. Whisper capitalized “Vlog” in the middle of a sentence, so expect to fix a word or two by clicking the caption and editing the text.

## Tips for better auto subtitles

- Use the multilingual model for anything that is not English.
- Clean noisy audio first with **Reduce noise** in the clip's Audio panel.
- Pick **Large** for vertical videos, since most people watch them on phones with the sound off.
- If the captions miss quiet words, try the Small model.

Want vertical captions for TikTok? Follow our [TikTok video guide](/guides/make-a-tiktok-video).

## Videos

### Video: Before and after: auto captions in Concat

Raw footage on the left and the same moment exported from the Concat video editor with auto captions on the right. (6 seconds, https://concatvideoeditor.com/videos/loop-captions.mp4)

### Video: Auto captions in the Concat video editor

Screen recording of Concat 0.2.7: generate a voiceover from a typed script, caption the clip from that voice with Whisper, then open the caption to restyle it. (23 seconds, https://concatvideoeditor.com/videos/demo-auto-captions.mp4)

Steps shown:
1. Type a script and generate a voiceover
2. Generate captions from that voice
3. Click a caption to edit and restyle it

## Questions people ask

### Can the Concat video editor add subtitles to a video with no speech?

Yes. Leave Use voice from timeline off, type the text into the Script box and Concat times the captions for you, one phrase after another.

### Which caption model should I pick?

Base (English) is a good start for English. Use a multilingual model for other languages and Small when names and punctuation matter more than speed.

### Are Concat subtitles burned into the video?

Captions are title clips on the timeline, so they are rendered into the exported video. Edit or delete them on the timeline before you export.