How to add auto captions in Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro 11 makes captions from speech itself: select the clips and choose Edit > Captions > Transcribe to Captions. It needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS Sequoia or later, and it only transcribes English. What it makes are captions, a delivery format with little styling. For captions that are part of the picture, styled for a vertical video, or for speech in another language, Captions gives you an FCPXML with every caption as a Basic Title.

Speech recognition makes mistakes. Check names and spellings before you post.

The built-in way: Transcribe to Captions

1. Select the clips in the timeline.
2. Choose Edit > Captions > Transcribe to Captions, or press Shift-Command-C. Newer versions call the command Generate Captions.
3. The first time, Final Cut downloads its language model. Then it adds the captions in the iTT format, in a caption lane at the top of the timeline, connected to the clips they came from.
4. Select a caption to change its words, colour or position in the inspector. Apple's guide to creating captions has the rest.

Viewers can turn captions on and off, and the player decides much of how they look. That suits a file you deliver. A vertical video for TikTok or Reels usually wants the captions burned into the picture with a chosen font and an outline, and in Final Cut that's a job for titles.

The CutConvert way: Basic Titles in an FCPXML

1. Open Captions, drop the video, pick a look and fix the words. For Final Cut, pick a look without a box, such as Clean or Bold, since a Basic Title can't draw one.
2. Download Final Cut Pro. Project files come with a paid video: $5, or one of the videos a Pro or Studio plan includes. You get an FCPXML.
3. In Final Cut Pro, choose File > Import > XML, pick the file and choose a library. Final Cut adds an event with the project in it.
4. Open the project. The video shows Missing File, because the FCPXML names it but not where it is. Select the project in the browser, choose File > Relink Files > Original Media, click Locate All and pick the video. Final Cut tells you how many files matched.

The free tier works with Final Cut too. Download the SRT and choose File > Import > Captions (Closed Captions in some versions) to get a caption lane, or turn the SRT into titles with the SRT to FCPXML converter. The guide to importing SRT into Final Cut Pro covers both.

What the timeline looks like

Take a 60-second vertical video at 1080×1920 and 30 fps, captioned with the Clean look at two lines a caption:

• The project is 1080×1920 at 30 fps, in a new event.
• The video sits in the primary storyline with its sound.
• One Basic Title per caption is connected above it, about 20 for a minute of talking, each starting and ending on its caption's frames.
• Each title is white and bold with a black outline, low on the frame. Double-click one in the viewer to change its words.

What comes across, and what doesn't

• Words and timing come across to the frame.
• Colour, size, position, bold and the outline come across in each Basic Title.
• The box doesn't. A Basic Title has nothing to draw it with. Add a shape or a solid under the titles, or pick a look without a box.
• Shadows don't either. Turn on Drop Shadow in the title's text inspector.
• The spoken-word highlight of the Bold and Pop looks is drawn into the burned-in MP4 only. In the project each caption is one title.

FAQ

Does Final Cut Pro have auto captions? Yes, from Final Cut Pro 11. Select the clips and choose Edit > Captions > Transcribe to Captions. It needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS Sequoia or later, and it transcribes English only.

Should I use captions or titles in Final Cut Pro? Captions are a delivery format: viewers can turn them on and off, and styling is limited. Titles are part of the picture and take any font, colour and position, which suits a styled vertical video.

How do I relink the video after importing the FCPXML? The FCPXML names the video but not where it is, so it shows Missing File. Select the project in the browser, choose File > Relink Files > Original Media, click Locate All and pick the video. Final Cut relinks only a file with the same frame rate and sound channels as the one you captioned, so pick that file, not a re-export.

Why don't my captions have a box in Final Cut? A Basic Title has no box behind its text, so the box isn't drawn. The outline comes across. For a box, put a shape under the titles, or use the burned-in MP4.

How much does it cost? Free: the captioned MP4 up to 3 minutes with a small cutconvert.com mark in the corner, plus the SRT and VTT. One captioned video costs $5: any length, no mark, and the captions as editable text in CapCut, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro. Pro includes 10 captioned videos a month and Studio 40.