How to add captions to Instagram Reels
Many people scroll Reels with the sound off, so captions keep them watching. You can use Instagram's own captions or burn styled captions into the video yourself.
Quick option: Instagram's captions
While editing a Reel, use the captions option (the CC sticker or Captions in the editor) to generate captions from the audio. Check each line: names and slang are often wrong, and styling options are limited.
Full control: make the captions
Open Instagram Reels captions, choose your video and set the language. Fix any words, and keep lines short so they fit on a phone screen.
Burn them into the video
Under the transcript, choose a caption style and position and select Make video with subtitles. Download the new video, which has the captions on it, with no watermark.
Upload to Instagram
Post the captioned video as a Reel. The same file works on TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
Keep captions readable
Place captions a little above the bottom of the frame, where Instagram's buttons and description sit, and use the box style for busy backgrounds.
Other languages
For Urdu, Hindi, Arabic and other languages, switch on Cloud mode for much better accuracy.