AI Video Captions: Which Tools Caption a Video, and How to Deliver the File

The six tools at a glance

Tool	Starts from	What you get back	Free access	First paid plan
VEED	A video in the browser editor	Styled captions burned into the video, or SRT, VTT and TXT files on paid plans	720p exports with a watermark; the Free subtitle allowance is not published	$12 per user per month, billed yearly as $147 (Creator, unlimited auto subtitles)
OpusClip	A long video from YouTube or a local file	Short clips with animated captions, in 9:16 on Free and Starter	60 processing minutes a month; captions carry a watermark	$15 per month (Starter, 150 minutes; billing period not stated)
Descript	A recording you import or record	An edited video, SRT or VTT subtitle exports and text transcripts with timecodes	60 media minutes a month; 720p video with a watermark	USD 24 per person per month billed monthly (Hobbyist; USD 16 billed yearly)
Riverside	An MP3, WAV, MP4 or MOV file, no account	A TXT or SRT transcript; animated captions in the paid editor	The transcription tool is free; the editor needs a 14-day trial with a card	$29 per month billed monthly (Pro; $24 billed annually)
UniScribe	Audio or video in 20+ formats	TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT, VTT or CSV, in 63 languages	120 minutes a month, files up to 30 minutes, 3 files a day	$10 per month billed monthly (Basic; $6 per month billed yearly)
DaVinci Resolve	Your edit and a subtitle file	Subtitle tracks imported or exported as SRT, VTT or TTML	The free version makes subtitle tracks by hand	$295 purchase (Studio, which adds text-based editing)

Plan names and amounts from each tool’s profile, which shows the date its plan terms were checked. VEED’s profile lists yearly billing only.

Sources: VEED add subtitles, OpusClip pricing, Riverside free transcription, UniScribe pricing, DaVinci Resolve Edit page and subtitles.

Captions, a subtitle file or a timestamped transcript?

An AI caption is text from speech recognition, split into cues that each have a start time, an end time and a short line of text. A readable time marker such as [00:12] helps a reviewer find a passage; an SRT or VTT cue also needs the moment the text leaves the screen.

Renaming a TXT transcript to .srt cannot supply the missing end times. A source timecode from an editing timeline may also differ from elapsed time in the exported video, so ask which clock the recipient uses.

Step 1: Check what the plan exports before you upload

In shortThe free tiers show the workflow, but watermarks, short export windows and missing file downloads decide whether the result can be delivered.

Descript’s subtitle help page documents SRT and VTT settings without saying which subscription plans include them, so confirm the option in the account before promising a free file. If it is missing, deliver a labelled review copy or choose a plan that names the export. VEED draws the line in writing: on Free, expect captions burned into a watermarked review copy rather than a separate file.

Sources: VEED add subtitles, OpusClip pricing, Descript subtitle export, Descript pricing, Riverside free transcription, UniScribe pricing.

Step 2: Upload the final cut, in the right language

In shortCaptions are timed to one exact version of the video. Transcribe the cut you will publish, not an earlier edit.

Choose the spoken language at upload. Descript transcribes 25 languages on every plan, UniScribe 63, and Riverside’s free tool asks for the language of each file; OpusClip lists multi-language transcription without naming the languages. Translating finished captions into another language is a separate job, covered in how to translate SRT subtitles.

Speaker names need their own check. Riverside’s free tool attributes a file with several speakers to one speaker, and its speaker labels come from the separate track each participant records in a Riverside session. UniScribe lists speaker identification and custom vocabulary on paid plans.

To practise before a client file, record yourself reading this fictional announcement for 45 seconds, with natural pauses: “The workshop starts at 14:30, not 14:00. Bring the Q7 adapter. Room B12 is on the second floor. Ask for Marisol Okonkwo at the desk.” Save it as workshop-base.mp4, then make workshop-plus5.mp4 with exactly five seconds of silence before the same recording. Before importing either file, note where each term is heard; that is the answer key, and the second video’s times are the first plus five seconds.

term,base_heard_seconds,expected_plus5_seconds,observed_export_seconds
14:30,,,
not 14:00,,,
Q7,,,
B12,,,
Marisol Okonkwo,,,

Sources: Descript pricing, UniScribe overview, Riverside free transcription.

Step 3: Correct the words without cutting the media

In Descript, deleting a word in the transcript cuts it from the audio or video. To fix a misheard word, select it and choose Correct, or press C: the text changes and the media underneath does not. Wait for the alignment to update before checking timing, and use Correct All only when every occurrence needs the same replacement. Riverside’s paid editor also cuts media when words are deleted, and its Correct everywhere fixes a repeated error in one step.

See the Descript profile for plans, limits and sources. See the Riverside profile for plans, limits and sources.

Visit Descript (opens in a new tab)Visit Riverside (opens in a new tab)

Sources: Descript transcript correction, Descript: edit like a doc, Riverside pricing.

Step 4: Set line limits, then check timing

For the practice file, use 32 characters per line and at most two lines per cue. These are exercise values, not a universal subtitle rule; a recipient’s delivery specification comes first. Descript’s subtitle export has settings for both, and the export can change the line breaks, so inspect the file afterwards. Keep “not 14:00” on one line: a break straight after “not” makes the correction harder to follow.

A hand-written cue, not tool output, shows what a five-second offset does:

1
00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,500
Bring the Q7 adapter.

If exactly five seconds are added before the media, the same cue becomes 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,500: both boundaries move. If every cue is early by the same amount, look for a start offset or the wrong media version. If the gap grows as playback goes on, one shift will not fix it; rebuild the timing against the final cut.

Sources: Descript subtitle export.

Step 5: Burn the captions in, or export the file

Tool	Captions in the picture	Separate file	Plan note
VEED	Styled in the editor and burned in	SRT, VTT or TXT	Files on paid plans; Free exports 720p with a watermark
OpusClip	Animated captions on each clip	Not covered in the sources checked	Watermark on Free; Pro adds 1:1 and 16:9 and export to Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve
Descript	Not covered in the sources checked	SRT or VTT, plus text transcripts with timecodes	Subtitle export plans not stated; video watermark on Free
Riverside	Animated captions in the editor	SRT or TXT from the free tool	Editor needs the trial or a paid plan
UniScribe	No video output listed	SRT, VTT, TXT, DOCX, PDF or CSV	Free uses the basic model
DaVinci Resolve	Not covered in the sources checked	SRT, VTT or TTML	Subtitle tracks on the free version
HeyGen Synthesia	HeyGen AI Studio has caption controls; Synthesia: not covered in the sources checked	HeyGen: a captions SRT option; Synthesia: SRT and VTT with the MP4	Synthesia downloads start on Starter, USD 19 billed monthly; HeyGen Free is watermarked

For a transcript rather than captions, Descript’s text export adds timecodes at a chosen interval or at paragraph breaks, with an optional offset in hh:mm:ss. Record the offset you used: it changes the displayed reference, not the media timing, and it cannot repair captions timed against a different cut.

See the VEED profile for plans, limits and sources. See the OpusClip profile for plans, limits and sources. See the UniScribe profile for plans, limits and sources.

Visit VEED (opens in a new tab)Visit OpusClip (opens in a new tab)Visit UniScribe (opens in a new tab)

Sources: VEED add subtitles, OpusClip pricing, Descript transcript export, UniScribe pricing, DaVinci Resolve Edit page and subtitles, HeyGen download and export, Synthesia download help.

Step 6: Check the file against the matching video, then deliver

Search the saved file for every answer-key term, including the negation, then load it next to its video in the player the recipient will use. DaVinci Resolve’s free version can take the file onto a subtitle track for this check and export it again as SRT, VTT or TTML; text-based editing from automatic transcription is a Studio addition. For numbering and timestamp errors, use the SRT checker below.

Name the media and caption file together, for example workshop-final.mp4 and workshop-final.en.srt. Add a short note with the tool, plan, export date, media duration, where the timestamps start, the language and the line limits, and list unresolved words rather than guessing them. If the video is cut again later, repeat the timing check before reusing its captions.

See the DaVinci Resolve profile for plans, limits and sources.

Visit DaVinci Resolve (opens in a new tab)

Sources: DaVinci Resolve Edit page and subtitles, DaVinci Resolve Studio.

Two workloads, priced

Tool	Usage is counted as	Eight 10-minute videos (80 minutes)	One 45-minute recording	Smallest plan that fits
VEED	Auto subtitles, outside credits on Creator	Unlimited on Creator; Free allowance not published	Same	Creator, $12 per user per month billed yearly as $147, for SRT or VTT files
OpusClip	1 credit per source minute, rounded to whole minutes	80 credits: more than Free’s 60, inside Starter’s 150	45 credits: inside Free’s 60, with watermarked captions	Starter, $15 per month, for clips without a watermark
Descript	Media minutes for everything imported or recorded	80 media minutes: more than Free’s 60; Hobbyist has 600	45 of Free’s 60, if nothing is imported twice	Hobbyist, USD 24 billed monthly, for video without a watermark
Riverside	No unit listed for the free tool	Eight uploads to the free tool	One upload; all speakers come back as one	The free tool for SRT; Pro, $29 billed monthly, for captions in the editor
UniScribe	Minutes a month, with per-file and per-day caps	80 of Free’s 120 minutes, at 3 files a day: three days of uploads	Over Free’s 30-minute file cap	Free for the short videos; Basic, $10 billed monthly, for the long file, since paid plans accept files up to 5 hours
DaVinci Resolve	No usage unit: a one-time Studio licence	Subtitle tracks typed by hand on the free version	Same	Studio, $295 purchase, for text-based editing from automatic transcription

Arithmetic on the plan terms in each profile, not observed usage. Retakes and re-imports count again in Descript; OpusClip monthly-plan credits expire after 60 days and UniScribe subscription minutes do not carry over.

Sources: VEED pricing, OpusClip credits, Descript media minutes, Riverside pricing, UniScribe pricing, DaVinci Resolve Studio.

In shortEleven capabilities marked from the six caption-tool profiles and this guide’s Descript help pages. A dash means the sources checked do not cover it, not that the tool lacks it.

Capability	VEED	OpusClip	Descript	Riverside	UniScribe	DaVinci Resolve
Getting the words
Transcribes your upload	Offeredauto subtitles	Offeredmulti-language	Offeredevery plan	Offeredfree tool, no account	Offered20+ file formats	Partlyautomatic transcription, Studio
Languages listed	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Partlycount not listed	Offered25	Partlychosen per file	Offered63	Not listednot covered in the sources checked
Fixing and styling
Correct text without cutting media	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	OfferedCorrect, or press C	PartlyCorrect everywhere, paid editor	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Offerededit tracks by hand
Styled or animated captions	Offeredstyled in the editor	Offeredanimated, brand templates	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Offeredanimated captions	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Not listednot covered in the sources checked
Vertical and square formats	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Partly9:16; 1:1 and 16:9 on Pro	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Offeredsquare and vertical projects
Getting the file out
Captions burned into the video	Offeredburn in	Offeredon each clip	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Partlypaid editor	Not listedno video output	Not listednot covered in the sources checked
SRT file	Partlypaid plans	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Partlyplans not stated	Offeredfree tool	Offeredexport	Offeredimport and export
VTT file	Partlypaid plans	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Partlyplans not stated	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Offeredexport	Offeredimport and export
Other text formats	PartlyTXT, paid plans	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Offeredtranscript with timecodes	OfferedTXT	OfferedTXT, DOCX, PDF, CSV	OfferedTTML
Hand-off to another editor	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	PartlyPremiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, Pro	Partlytimeline export, Creator up	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Not listedis itself the editor
Watermark-free video	Partlyfrom Creator	Partlyfrom Starter	Partlyfrom Hobbyist	Not listednot covered in the sources checked	Not listedno video output	Not listednot covered in the sources checked

offered partly or with limits not listed on the profile.

Cells come from each tool’s profile on this site, which cites the vendor pages and the date they were checked; Descript’s subtitle and transcript rows come from its help pages linked above.

Common questions

What this guide does not judge

Caption generator pages in the search results lead with accuracy figures, accent handling, speed, caption styles and claims about reach or search visibility. None of the vendor pages behind this guide document these in a way that compares tools on the same recording, so no tool is ranked on them. Accessibility compliance for a specific law or platform is also outside what the sources cover.

Kapwing, Captions, Adobe Express, Powtoon and AutoCaption appear in search results for this task. They are left out until each has a profile with checked plan terms. More editors sit in the video category.

How this guide was made

Plans, units, inputs and exports come from the VEED, OpusClip, Descript, Riverside, UniScribe, DaVinci Resolve, HeyGen and Synthesia profiles on this site, which cite the vendors’ pricing and help pages and carry their own check dates. Descript’s correction, subtitle and transcript export details come from its help pages linked in each step. Sections follow the topics the top-ranking pages for this search cover, limited to what the vendors document. The practice script, cue example and checker are editorial material; no captions were generated for this guide and no rating is given. See our editorial policy.