Tool
Auto subtitle generator
Upload a video and StoryTok transcribes it, times every word, and burns styled captions into the frame. No timeline, no manual sync, no caption file to wrangle — you get back a finished MP4 with the text already part of the picture.
Burned-in captions and subtitle files solve different problems, and the distinction matters. A .srt sidecar is toggleable, accessible and searchable, but it only exists where a player supports it — upload the same file to TikTok and it is gone. Burned-in captions are pixels, so they survive every re-upload, cross-post and download, and they carry your styling with them.
For short-form that makes burned-in the correct default. Most feed viewing is muted, the caption is doing the work of the audio, and you cannot rely on a platform to render a sidecar it does not read. The tradeoff is real though: burned-in text cannot be translated, resized by the viewer, or read by a screen reader.
Accuracy is where cheap captioning falls down, and it fails hardest on exactly the words that matter — names, brands, jargon. StoryTok transcribes with a speech-to-text service rather than a heuristic, then times each word from the transcript's own marks, so captions land per word instead of drifting across a whole line.
How it works
Step 1
Upload your video
The file uploads directly to storage from your browser rather than through the app, so large clips are not throttled by a server round-trip.
Step 2
Automatic transcription
Speech-to-text runs server-side and returns word-level timings, not just a block of text with an estimated start and end.
Step 3
Style the captions
Set colour, position and emphasis. Consistent caption styling is one of the cheapest ways to make a series instantly recognisable.
Step 4
Download the finished MP4
Captions are composited into the frame, so they survive re-uploads, cross-posting and any platform that ignores sidecar subtitle files.
Specifics
- Input
- Your uploaded video file
- Transcription
- Automatic speech-to-text with word-level timings
- Output
- MP4 with captions composited into the frame
- Billing
- Per minute of source video, rounded up
- Tradeoff
- Burned-in text can't be toggled, translated or resized by the viewer
- Cost
- 3 free minutes at signup, then ~17¢ per rendered minute on the $10 pack
Worth knowing
- Captions are timed per word, not per line, so they track speech instead of drifting across a sentence.
- Uploads go straight from your browser to storage, so a long clip is not bottlenecked by the app server.
- Subtitles jobs are billed on the source video's known duration, so the cost is settled before rendering starts.
- Burned-in captions survive cross-posting between TikTok, Reels and Shorts; sidecar subtitle files do not.
Questions
Should captions be burned in or a separate subtitle file?
For short-form, burned in. A .srt sidecar only renders where a player supports it and vanishes when you cross-post. Burned-in captions are part of the picture, so they travel everywhere and keep your styling. The cost is that viewers cannot toggle, translate or resize them.
How accurate is the transcription?
It uses a speech-to-text service with word-level timing rather than an estimate, so timing is reliable. Accuracy on ordinary speech is high; proper nouns, brand names and jargon are where any transcription is weakest, so those are worth a read-through before you post.
What does captioning a video cost?
One credit per minute of source video, rounded up — about 17 cents a minute on the $10 pack. Because the source duration is known up front, the charge is settled before rendering rather than after.
Caption a video free
3 free trial minutes at signup. No card, no plan, nothing renews.
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Product details and pricing current as of August 2026 · Reddit, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram are trademarks of their respective owners; StoryTok is not affiliated with them.