Auto Captions for Product Videos
Most people meet your launch video with the sound off. Spotlight burns captions into your export and gives you a downloadable .srt file, so your message lands either way.
What auto captions do
A large share of social video is watched without sound — in feeds that autoplay muted, on trains, in open-plan offices. If your launch video depends on narration, those viewers miss the point. Auto captions for videos fix that, and they help everyone else too: captions improve comprehension for non-native speakers, make your video accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and reinforce product names and key phrases.
Spotlight gives you captions in two forms:
- Burned-in captions that are part of the video image. They appear wherever the video plays — X, LinkedIn, Product Hunt, Slack, your website — with no extra upload.
- A downloadable .srt file for platforms that accept separate caption tracks, so viewers can switch them on or off and platforms can read the text.
How it works
- Build your film. Paste your URL, add screenshots and recordings, and let the AI director plan a first cut with AI voiceover.
- Get the words right. Edit the narration until it says exactly what you mean — captions reflect what’s said.
- Preview. Check that captions don’t cover the key part of each screen; move overlays or adjust framing if they clash.
- Export. Download the MP4 with burned-in captions and the .srt file.
What you control
- The words — edit the script and the captions follow your narration.
- What’s on screen around them — framing, zoom and draggable overlays, so captions and UI don’t compete.
- Format — captions are included in 16:9, 9:16, 1:1 and 4:5 exports; check each format in preview, because vertical frames leave less room.
- Which file to use — upload the burned-in MP4 everywhere, and add the .srt where a platform supports caption tracks.
Who it’s for
Every launch that will be seen in a feed: Product Hunt launch videos, feature announcements on LinkedIn and X, vertical app promos for Reels and TikTok, and muted landing page hero videos. Captions also help teams who publish in English to an international audience.
Tips for captions that work
- Keep sentences short. Short narration lines become short, readable caption lines.
- Spell your product name consistently. Captions make spelling mistakes very visible.
- Leave the bottom of key screens clear. If a crucial button sits at the bottom, zoom in or reframe so captions don’t cover it.
- Don’t double up. If a scene already has a large on-screen headline, keep the narration for that moment brief so viewers aren’t reading two things at once.
- Upload the .srt as well where you can — it gives viewers control and gives platforms readable text.
- Check every aspect ratio. What fits in 16:9 may wrap differently in 9:16. See the social video resizer.
Included in every plan
Captions are part of the editor on every plan, including Free (which exports a watermarked 540p preview). HD exports come with a Launch Pass, Creator or Studio — see pricing. For a pre-launch run-through, use our launch video checklist.