The short answer
Open the video in a caption app, let it transcribe the speech, fix any words it got wrong, then export. You either burn the captions into a new MP4 or MOV, or save a subtitle file (SRT or VTT) to upload alongside the video.
On a Mac there are three realistic ways to do that: a native caption app, the caption tools inside your video editor, or a browser-based caption service. Here's how each one works and when it makes sense.
Option 1: A native caption app
A native app runs on your Mac like any other application. With an on-device app such as HeyCaption, the transcription happens on your machine, so there's nothing to upload and no queue to wait in.
- Install the app. Download HeyCaption from heycaption.com (free for your first 3 videos). It needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later on Apple Silicon.
- Drop in your video. Drag an MP4 or MOV into the window. The spoken language is detected automatically.
- Review the transcript. Read through it once and click any word to fix it. Names, brands and jargon are the usual suspects.
- Pick a style. Subtitle for clean lines at the bottom of the frame, Bold for big centered words, or Karaoke for a word-by-word highlight.
- Export. Burn the captions into an MP4 or MOV, or save an SRT or VTT file.
The first run takes a couple of minutes, mostly for the one-time language model download. The setup guide walks through it step by step.
Option 2: Your video editor
Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve Studio can all generate captions from the audio in your timeline. That's convenient when captions are one small part of a bigger edit and you want them to live in the same project.
The trade-off is speed and styling. You open a full project for every clip, and turning plain captions into the bold or word-by-word looks common on Reels, TikTok and Shorts usually means extra work with titles or templates.
A common middle path: caption in a dedicated app, export an SRT, and import it into your editor. All three editors read SRT files.
Option 3: A browser-based tool
Web tools like Veed, Kapwing and Submagic work on any computer with a browser. You upload the video, the service transcribes it on its servers, and you download the result.
That works, but every step depends on your connection. Large files take a while to upload, processing happens in a shared queue, and your footage sits on someone else's server. For client work or anything under NDA, check that this is allowed before you upload.
Burned in, or a subtitle file?
Burned-in captions are part of the picture, so they show up everywhere and keep your styling. Subtitle files are a separate text track that viewers can switch on and off.
- Posting to Reels, TikTok or Shorts? Burn them in.
- Uploading to YouTube, Vimeo or a course platform? Attach an SRT or VTT file.
- Handing off to an editor? Send an SRT.
We go deeper in burned-in vs closed captions and SRT vs VTT.
Tips for more accurate captions
- Start with clean audio. A close microphone and a quiet room matter more than any setting. Loud music under speech makes words harder to pick out, for software and people alike.
- Proofread proper nouns. Names, product names and technical terms are where transcription slips most. A quick read-through catches them.
- Keep lines short. Many subtitle style guides cap a line at about 42 characters, with no more than two lines on screen at once.
- Leave room for the interface. On vertical video, keep captions clear of the bottom of the frame, where each app places its own text and buttons.