Is MakeCaption really free?

Yes — MakeCaption is completely free to use, with no watermarks, no subscriptions, and no usage limits. There's no account to create. The tool runs entirely in your browser, so we don't have server costs to recoup with paywalls.

Do my videos get uploaded to a server?

No. Every step — audio extraction, AI transcription, caption rendering, and final export — runs locally in your browser using WebAssembly. Your video never leaves your device, which is why MakeCaption is safe to use for client work, internal content, and anything you'd rather not hand to a third party.

Which platforms is MakeCaption built for?

MakeCaption is optimized for vertical short-form video: TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Reels, LinkedIn vertical posts, and Snapchat. The default styling presets, positioning, and aspect ratios are tuned for mobile viewing where most short-form video is consumed.

What video formats are supported?

Most common formats work out of the box: MP4, MOV, WebM, AVI, and others. MakeCaption uses FFmpeg.wasm under the hood, which supports the same codecs FFmpeg does on a desktop. If your file plays in a modern browser, MakeCaption can almost certainly handle it.

How long does it take to generate captions?

For most videos, transcription takes about half the length of the video itself — a one-minute clip transcribes in roughly 30 seconds on a modern laptop. The very first run is slower because the AI model has to download (it's then cached for future use). Burning captions into the final MP4 takes another 10–30 seconds depending on resolution.

Can I edit the captions after they're generated?

Yes. After transcription, every word and timestamp is editable. You can fix mistakes, adjust timing, merge or split phrases, and tweak punctuation before you render the final video. Nothing is locked in until you click export.

What languages does MakeCaption support?

The current build is tuned for English, but the underlying Whisper model supports dozens of languages. Broader multilingual support is on the roadmap — if you have a specific language you need, let us know via the contact page.

Will captions hurt my video quality?

No. MakeCaption re-encodes the final video at high quality with captions burned in as a separate visual layer. The result is the same resolution as your source video, with captions rendered crisply on top — no compression artifacts from the captions themselves.