How to create SRT subtitles from any video (free)
Subtitles are one of the highest-leverage things you can add to a video: they boost watch time, make content accessible, and let people watch on mute. The standard format is SRT — a simple text file of numbered, timestamped captions that YouTube, TikTok, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and virtually every video platform accepts.
Here's how to generate one for free with FreeTranscribe's video-to-SRT tool — no account, and your video is never uploaded.
Step 1 — Transcribe the video
Drop your video into the transcriber. The Whisper AI model runs directly in your browser and produces phrase-level timestamps alongside the text.
Step 2 — Switch to the SRT tab
When transcription completes, click the SRT subtitles tab. You'll see standard SRT cues:
1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,240 Hey everyone, welcome back to the channel. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:06,980 Today we're looking at three ways to speed up your edits.
Step 3 — Edit if needed
The output box is editable — fix names, brands, or jargon before downloading. For heavier editing, any subtitle editor (or plain text editor) opens .srt files.
Step 4 — Download and use it
- YouTube: YouTube Studio → Subtitles → Add → Upload file → With timing.
- Premiere / Resolve / CapCut: import the .srt straight into your timeline as a caption track.
- Web players: download the VTT tab instead — it's the same thing in the web-native format for
<track>tags.
SRT vs VTT — which do you need?
SRT for video platforms and editing software. VTT for HTML5 video on websites. FreeTranscribe exports both from the same transcription, so grab whichever you need — or both.