On-screen text transcribing spoken dialogue in a video — required for sound-off viewing on every modern social-video feed.
Last verified · 2026-05-29 · by Moe Ameen
Subtitles are the burned-in or rendered text that transcribes what a speaker says in a video. They're functionally identical to closed captions in most modern usage (the distinction — subtitles for translation, captions for accessibility — has mostly collapsed). Every major social-video feed autoplays muted: Reels, TikTok, Shorts, X video, LinkedIn video. Without subtitles, 80–90% of viewers scroll past before unmuting.
Two technical flavors. Burned-in subtitles are baked into the video pixels — they ship with every cross-post and can't be turned off. Rendered subtitles (the YouTube CC track, the IG auto-caption toggle) are a separate text layer the viewer can hide. For short-form, burned-in is the standard because it survives cross-posting and looks consistent across platforms.
Styling matters more than people think. Color, font, position, animation timing, and box vs. no-box all affect retention. Submagic and Captions popularized the "word-by-word highlight" style; Kompozy ships 7 caption presets in libass-burned format that match the dominant short-form styles.
Subtitles are the burned-in or rendered on-screen text that transcribes what a speaker says in a video. In most modern usage they are functionally identical to closed captions, since the old distinction between the two has mostly collapsed.
Every major social-video feed (Reels, TikTok, Shorts, X video, LinkedIn video) autoplays muted. Without subtitles, 80 to 90% of viewers scroll past before they ever unmute.
Burned-in subtitles are baked into the video pixels, so they ship with every cross-post and can't be turned off. Rendered subtitles, like the YouTube CC track or the Instagram auto-caption toggle, are a separate text layer the viewer can hide.
Burned-in is the standard for short-form because it survives cross-posting and looks consistent across platforms, while rendered subtitle tracks can be hidden or vary by platform.
Yes, styling matters more than people think. Color, font, position, animation timing, and box-versus-no-box all affect retention. Kompozy ships 7 caption presets in libass-burned format matching the dominant short-form styles.