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Arabic subtitles for YouTube videos: SRT files and burned-in captions for Shorts

Upload the video file and get accurately timed Arabic subtitles: an SRT or VTT file you add yourself in YouTube Studio, or captions burned into the picture for Shorts. For Arabic channels, and for anyone publishing English videos who wants Arabic viewers to follow without reshooting anything.

Get StarterGet BasicSee the output
  • Five styles, karaoke included
  • 9:16, 1:1 and 16:9
  • Arabic captions on English video

Included in every paid plan, from $1/month (Basic, Starter, Creator, Professional, Business and Enterprise)from $4.99/month (Starter, Creator, Professional, Business and Enterprise). Not available on the Free plan.

See the workflow

Real caption renders

The Arabic clip, captioned in its own language: each word lights up as it is spoken. The 16:9 source was reframed to 9:16 over a blurred fill.

Real output, unedited · voices by Vocla
Rendered by Vocla's captions from a waveform video of two clips voiced by Vocla, then re-encoded to 540p for this page. No frame was edited.

What you get

What the files you get look like

Two examples of what comes out of the editor, and a ready list to adapt and paste before transcribing.

  • Sample 1

    SRT cues from a video in Saudi dialect

    Saudi Arabic

    1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,200 هلا والله، اليوم بنجرّب ثلاث كاميرات 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,900 ونشوف وش الأفضل للتصوير بالليل 3 00:00:06,900 --> 00:00:10,400 الأسعار مرة متقاربة، بس الفرق في العدسة

    Cue 1: Hi everyone, today we're trying three cameras. Cue 2: and seeing which is best for shooting at night. Cue 3: The prices are very close, but the difference is in the lens. Dialect speech is written as spoken, not converted to Modern Standard Arabic.

  • Sample 2

    A translated cue from an English video

    Modern Standard Arabic

    14 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:16,000 لا تشترِ أغلى عدسة أولًا، ابدأ بما لديك وتعلّم الإضاءة.

    Original: "Don't buy the most expensive lens first. Start with what you have and learn lighting."

  • Sample 3

    Names-and-terms list for a photography channel

    Modern Standard Arabic

    أسماء: ريان، جود، بودكاست «عدسة وحكاية» مصطلحات: فتحة العدسة، التركيز التلقائي، ISO، البوكيه، الحامل الثلاثي أماكن: جدة، العُلا، الطائف

    Names: Rayan, Jood, the podcast "A Lens and a Story". Terms: aperture, autofocus, ISO, bokeh, tripod. Places: Jeddah, AlUla, Taif. Write each name with the spelling you want to see in the subtitles.

The problem

Typing subtitles by hand eats your editing day

A ten-minute video holds well over a thousand words.

  1. Typing them and then timing every line to the speech takes hours and repeats with every upload, so plenty of videos go out with no subtitles at all, even though part of the audience watches on mute or cannot hear well.

  2. If the video is in English the job doubles: transcribe the speech, translate it, then cut it into short lines that can be read in two or three seconds. A long, literal translation falls behind the audio and viewers stop reading.

  3. Shorts add another requirement. The clip is vertical, the text has to be part of the picture in large type, and it must not sit under the app's buttons. Any mistake in Arabic text direction or letter joining shows in the first second.

Why Vocla

What Vocla gives you for subtitling your channel

  • Transcription in the video's dialect

    Choose Modern Standard Arabic or the speaker's dialect before transcribing, and the speech is written as it was said, with a time for every word. Accuracy is higher on Modern Standard Arabic and clean audio than on a dialect recorded over noise, so review the text before you export.

  • SRT and VTT in Arabic and the original language

    Export the subtitle file in Arabic, in the video's language or both, with numbered cues and lines wrapped for the screen, then add it to the video yourself in YouTube Studio.

  • English videos translated with the timing kept

    Lines are translated one by one and shown next to the original, and each keeps its time, so you polish the Arabic wording with the English sentence in front of you.

  • Burned-in captions for Shorts in five styles

    Reframe the video to 9:16 and burn captions in as Clean, Boxed, Bold, Karaoke or Minimal, with your choice of position, size and colours. Arabic is rendered right to left with proper letter shaping.

  • A names-and-terms list before you transcribe

    Add the channel name, guest names and technical terms, and they are written the way you specified instead of being guessed.

How it works

From a video file to subtitles live on your channel

  1. Step 1

    Upload the video file itself

    Upload the file you exported from your editor, up to 500 MB. Vocla works on uploaded files and does not pull a video from its link.

  2. Step 2

    Set the language and paste your names list

    Pick the dialect for an Arabic video, or English for a foreign one, then add the people, products and terms that recur in the episode.

  3. Step 3

    Review the text in the editor

    Playback follows the text word by word. Fix names, add missing punctuation, split long lines, and use find and replace for a mistake that repeats.

  4. Step 4

    Translate if the video is in English

    Request the Arabic translation, then read it line by line: shorten any sentence that cannot be read in its time, and keep each term translated the same way throughout.

  5. Step 5

    Export and upload it yourself

    For a long video, download the SRT and add it in the Subtitles section of YouTube Studio. For a Short, render an MP4 with burned-in captions at 9:16 and upload it like any clip.

Cost

What does subtitling a YouTube video cost?

Cost follows the length of the video, not its word count: 150 credits per started minute to transcribe, plus 60 credits per minute if you ask for the Arabic translation. The SRT or VTT file downloads straight from the transcript, while burning captions into the picture adds 30 credits per minute. You see the cost before you start, and credits are refunded if a transcript fails.

These tools are part of the paid plans and not the Free plan. The longest file is 30 minutes on Starter, 120 on Professional and 300 on Business, so choose by the length of your episodes. A monetised channel needs commercial usage rights, which begin with Starter at $4.99 a month.

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The numbers

Quick maths

Worked example: a 10-minute recording is 1,800 credits, or 2,400 with translation.

  • Not available on the Free plan; included in every paid plan.
  • Transcription costs 150 credits per started minute of audio, shown before you start and refunded if the transcript fails.
  • Translating the transcript adds 60 credits per minute.
  • Rendering captions into the video adds 30 credits per started minute.
  • Longest file: 30 minutes on Starter, 120 on Professional and 300 on Business.

Figures use the current plans and default credit rates. The exact cost is always shown in the app before you confirm.

Questions people ask

How do I add Arabic subtitles to a YouTube video?

Upload the video file to Vocla, review the transcript, then download the SRT. Open the video in YouTube Studio, go to the Subtitles section, add Arabic as a language and upload the file. Vocla does not connect to your channel, so the upload is a step you do yourself.

Can I translate an English YouTube video into Arabic subtitles?

Yes, if the video is yours or you have the right to use it, and you have the file. Vocla transcribes the English speech, then translates it into Arabic line by line with the timing kept, and you export an SRT or burn the captions in. Review the translation before publishing: terms and jokes need a human eye.

Does Vocla upload the subtitles to my channel automatically?

No. There is no direct connection to YouTube. You download an SRT or VTT file, or an MP4 with burned-in captions, and upload it from your own account. Control of the channel stays entirely with you.

Does transcription understand Saudi and Egyptian dialects?

Yes. You choose the dialect before transcribing and colloquial speech is written as spoken. Dialect accuracy is lower than Modern Standard Arabic when the recording is noisy or voices overlap, and transcripts come without tashkeel and sometimes with sparse punctuation. Allow a few minutes for review, and add your names list first.

What is the difference between an SRT file and burned-in captions?

An SRT is separate text that the YouTube player shows and the viewer can hide, which suits long videos. Burned-in captions are drawn onto the picture and always appear in the style you chose, which suits Shorts. Both come from the same transcript, so you fix a word once.

Is subtitling YouTube videos free on Vocla?

No. Speech to text and AI captions are paid-plan tools, charged in credits by the minutes of video. The Free plan covers text to speech only. You see the full cost before any transcript starts.

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  • ⁠500͏⁠ free credits every month
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  • Arabic and English interface