Premiere Pro captions: how to import, style and export an SRT file

Premiere Pro treats captions as their own track type. You can import an existing SRT file onto that track, adjust the text and timing on the timeline, style it, and export it again as a sidecar SRT or burn it into the picture. This guide walks through each step and shows how to add translated caption tracks for other languages.

Menu names move a little between Premiere Pro versions. The steps below follow the current Text panel workflow.

Before you import

• Open the sequence first. Captions belong to a sequence, so import them with the sequence open in the timeline.
• Check the SRT file. Cue numbers should run in order, every timecode should use the 00:01:02,500 --> 00:01:05,000 pattern, and the file should be saved as UTF-8 so accented and non-Latin characters survive the import.
• Match the cut. The timecodes must fit this edit of the video. A file made for a longer or shorter cut will drift.

How to import an SRT file into Premiere Pro

1. Open the Text panel from the Window menu and switch to the Captions tab.
2. Choose Import captions from file and select your .srt file.
3. In the new caption track dialog, set the format to Subtitle, pick a track style (or none), and choose where the captions should start. Starting at the beginning of the timeline keeps the original timecodes.
4. Confirm. Premiere Pro adds a caption track above the video tracks, and every cue appears as its own caption clip.

You can also drag an .srt file into the Project panel and from there onto the timeline. The Text panel route is the more reliable one, because it attaches the captions to the sequence you have open.

Editing captions on the timeline

• Text: double-click a caption in the Text panel to edit it. Find and replace in the panel helps with names and terms that recur.
• Timing: drag the start or end of a caption clip on the caption track, or move the whole clip. Keep a small gap between neighboring captions so they do not run together.
• Splitting and merging: split long captions into two shorter ones, and merge captions that flash by too quickly to read.

Read the captions back at normal speed after editing. Timing that looks fine on the timeline can still feel rushed during playback.

Styling captions

Select one or more captions and adjust font, size, color, background and position in the Essential Graphics or Properties panel, depending on your version. Save the look as a track style so every caption, and every future caption track, uses it.

Style only affects how Premiere Pro displays or burns in the captions. An SRT file has no field for fonts or colors, so a sidecar SRT export carries the text and timing but not the styling. If a platform shows your sidecar file, it uses its own caption style.

Exporting captions from Premiere Pro

In the export settings, the captions section offers two choices:

• Create sidecar file: exports the caption track as a separate file, such as SRT, next to the video. Viewers can turn the captions on or off, and platforms such as YouTube accept the file as a caption track.
• Burn captions into video: renders the captions into the picture. They are always visible and keep your styling, but they cannot be turned off or replaced later.

You can also export only the caption track as an SRT file, without rendering the video. That is useful when the captions need translating.

Adding translated caption tracks

A sequence can hold more than one caption track, so each language can live on its own track:

1. Export the finished caption track as an SRT file.
2. Translate the SRT file. Keep cue numbers and timecodes unchanged so the translation lines up with the same cut.
3. Import the translated file with Import captions from file. It arrives as a new caption track.
4. Turn tracks on or off to check each language, then export one sidecar file per language.

Translations often run longer than the source. Check line length and reading speed on the translated track before you export, and shorten the wording where a caption is hard to read.

Translating and transcribing captions with Aivently

Aivently translates SRT files exported from Premiere Pro into one or more languages. Cue identity and timing are preserved, so the translated file imports back onto a new caption track without retiming. The source and the translation appear side by side in one editor, which warns you about long lines, reading speed, overlaps and gaps before you export.

If you have no caption file yet, Aivently can transcribe the audio or video into timed text you can edit and export as SRT, ready for Import captions from file. The file is measured first, so you see the exact credit total before a job runs.

Translate a caption file or transcribe your video to SRT.