Hardcoding Subtitles (Burn-In)

~10 min · subtitles, burn, hardcode

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When to burn subtitles into the picture

Hardcoded subs are pixels — they can't be turned off. Use them when:

The destination platform doesn't support sidecar subtitles (some social platforms).
You need exact font / color / positioning that softsubs can't carry.
You're shipping a 'always-on' caption version (TikTok-style).

Two filters

subtitles=file.srt — burns SRT/ASS/SSA into the video. Honors ASS styling.
ass=file.ass — explicit ASS rendering. Same backend.

Code

Burn-in recipes·bash

# Plain SRT burned in (default white text with black outline)
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 \
  -vf "subtitles=captions.srt" \
  -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -preset slow \
  -c:a copy \
  burned.mp4

# Custom font + size for SRT (force_style overrides)
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 \
  -vf "subtitles=captions.srt:force_style='FontName=Arial,FontSize=28,PrimaryColour=&H00FFFFFF,OutlineColour=&H00000000,BorderStyle=1,Outline=2,Shadow=0,MarginV=50'" \
  -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -preset slow \
  -c:a copy \
  styled.mp4

# ASS file with all its styling preserved
ffmpeg -i in.mp4 \
  -vf "ass=fancy.ass" \
  -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -preset slow \
  -c:a copy \
  ass_burn.mp4

External links

Exercise

Take any video and a SRT file. Burn the SRT into the video with default styling. Then re-burn with custom force_style — bigger font, yellow text, larger outline, lower vertical margin. Compare the two outputs. Bonus: convert your SRT to ASS in Aegisub, add a color/position effect, burn that in too.

Progress

Progress is local-only — sign in to sync across devices.

← PreviousSubtitle Formats — SRT, ASS, WebVTT Next →Embedded Subtitles (Soft, Toggleable)

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