Short-form placement preview
The YouTube Shorts overlay marks approximate title, channel, action-rail, and progress-bar regions while the caption is moved.
Caption a YouTube Short, then choose pixels or a track.
Prepare the vertical video outside YouTube, correct the timed text, keep the design clear of Shorts controls, and export the format your publishing workflow needs.
Drop a video here
MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV · up to 500 MB · 10 minutes
No signup. No watermark. Guest projects stay editable for 24 hours, or 7 days once you sign in.
How it works
- 01
Upload the source Short
Choose the local video file you plan to send to YouTube rather than a published YouTube URL.
- 02
Generate and review
Correct speech recognition errors, names, punctuation, and caption breaks before anyone sees them.
- 03
Design around Shorts controls
Choose a vertical canvas, turn on the Shorts safe-area overlay, and keep words out of covered regions.
- 04
Export one or both formats
Download a captioned MP4 for fixed design, an SRT or VTT for a selectable track, or both from the same project.
Built for the correction after generation.
Burned-in design
Font, color, emphasis, and placement become part of the MP4, which keeps the visual treatment consistent on replay and repost.
Separate subtitle delivery
SRT and VTT retain timed text for a player-controlled track. TXT exports the transcript without cue timing.
One correction pass
Fix the transcript once, then use that reviewed timing for both the rendered video and the subtitle file.
Honest style access
All styles can be previewed. Free video export supports Clean Minimal and Documentary; premium effects require Starter.
No direct channel access
The tool does not connect to, publish on, or change a YouTube channel. It prepares files for your upload.
Burned-in captions versus a YouTube subtitle track.
They solve different parts of the Short. Many publishing workflows benefit from delivering both.
Burn in for visual timing
Use a captioned MP4 when active-word emphasis, type, color, and exact placement are part of the creative.
Upload SRT for viewer control
A separate track can be toggled and remains machine-readable. YouTube accepts basic UTF-8 SRT without style markup.
Do not call burned-in text closed captions
Closed captions can be enabled or disabled by the viewer. Text rendered into the pixels is open, hardcoded, or burned in.
Review automatic captions
YouTube can generate captions after upload, but its own guidance says machine captions may misrepresent speech and should be reviewed.
What goes into the Shorts handoff.
- Accepted files
- MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV
- Vertical canvas
- 9:16
- Safe-area overlay
- YouTube Shorts
- Burned-in output
- Captioned MP4
- Separate tracks
- SRT or VTT
- Account to download
- Google or email sign-in
- Free video projects
- 3 per month
- Free styles
- Clean Minimal, Documentary
- Free length and size
- 10 minutes, 500 MB
- Starter length and size
- 120 minutes, 5 GB
- Retention
- 24h guest, 7d Free, 90d Starter
- Watermark
- None
When the general YouTube workflow fits better.
This page is specifically about vertical short-form placement and the two caption handoffs.
You are captioning a long-form upload
Use the YouTube subtitle generator workflow for a standard video, especially when the main deliverable is an SRT track.
You want to fetch a published Short
There is no YouTube URL importer. Use the source file you own and plan to publish.
You need certified accessibility compliance
The editor can help create and correct timed text, but it does not certify a file or guarantee compliance with a legal or organizational standard.
Questions before upload
How long can a YouTube Short be?+
YouTube's help documentation, checked September 12, 2026, says square or vertical uploads up to three minutes are categorized as Shorts for standard channels when they meet the stated upload-date rules.
Should I burn captions in or upload an SRT?+
Burn them in when the design must always be visible; upload SRT when viewer control and machine-readable text matter. Export both when you need both outcomes.
Does YouTube accept VTT too?+
Yes. YouTube documents support for WebVTT, though supported styling is limited. Basic UTF-8 SRT is the simpler widely used option.
Can I import a YouTube Shorts URL?+
No. The workflow begins with the source video file on your device and does not download a published Short.
Will the safe-area overlay match every phone?+
No overlay can promise that. The editor marks conservative approximate regions, and you should still review YouTube's current upload preview.
Does this translate my Short?+
No. It captions the language spoken in the source. Translation is a separate capability and is not implied by this page.