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In this tutorial we're going to cover how to automatically generate SRT files which you then can add to your LikedIn videos. As always, this tutorial is also available as a video on YouTube. Feel free to check it out.
If you don't already know what an SRT file is, then we recommend you first go through this article where we take a look behind the scenes and explain how and SRT file is structured and formatted.
Before we jump right into the step by step guide lets first clarify why subtitles are important for your LinkedIn videos and how they can help increase your watch time and retention rate.
How subtitles improve your videos?
In general creating videos for LinkedIn is a great opportunity to connect with other professionals and share your expertise to the world. However, did you know that you could easily improve on your videos by adding subtitles to them? Think of captions as SEO for videos for! You not only improve it for your audience accessibility but also for LinkedIn since they can understand what your video is about.
There are two different forms of subtitles which you both can create with Streamlabs Podcast Editor. You can either create and SRT file which you upload along with your video to LinkedIn or you burn in the subtitles to your video. If you create an SRT file your viewer can actively decide if they want to toggle the subtitles on or off. In fact these subtitles are called closed captions (CC) because they are not fixed attached to the video and you give the options to toggle them on/off.
Burned in subtitles (SUB) on the other hand can't be removed from your video. They are always visible, regardless what video player they are shown with. A disadvantage could be that you cover important areas of your video. Also, the algorithms of platforms like LinkedIn can't understand burned-in subtitles since they are just shown as pixels accumulation in your video.
Now that we've got that straight, let's look at how to create a SRT file for your LinkedIn video.
How to generate an SRT file?
The good news is that you don't need to download or install any program to create SRT files. We build Streamlabs Podcast Editor which is an online video editor that helps you with all subtitle related work. It runs in the browser so you can just signup here Streamlabs Podcast Editor Signup . Btw generating SRT files is for free though.
Once you're registered you can start right away. Follow this three step tutorial to create your own SRT file automatically and without any hustle.
#1: Upload video
Start with uploading your video content. Simply drag and drop your video from your computer into Streamlabs Podcast Editor. Alternatively, you can of course upload videos from YouTube, Google Drive or Dropbox with a link. Note that you selected the languages of your video beforehand.
If you want to create a new video, we have built a webcam and screen recorder for you.
#2: Edit transcribed text
Streamlabs Podcast Editor automatically transcribes your video to text. Since AI transcribing is on a raise to get unbelievable accurate there might be still some words that the engine is mistaken and need some manual correction. However it will do 98% of the work to create an SRT file for you.
So you can go through the transcribed text and edit where some editing is necessary. By doing this you also correct the subtitles that you can export afterwards. Every change will be adopted to the specific SRT format. Pro tip: Use the arrow keys from your keyboard to navigate through the text.
#3: Export the SRT file
Once you are done with the correction of the text you can click on the "Export" button in the top right corner of the menu and choose "Subtitles" and then click on "Download .SRT file". Streamlabs Podcast Editor will generate the file in a few seconds for you.
Btw. besides SRT files you can also download the subtitles as a VTT file, or a .txt file.
Now you are ready to apply the SRT file to your video in LinkedIn. So let's have a look on how that works.
Add the SRT file to your LinkedIn video
The next step is to add the SRT file to your LinkedIn video. So first login to your LinkedIn account and follow this septs:
Select your video
Click on "Video" and select the video file you want to upload and post on LinkedIn.
Upload SRT file
After you have selected and uploaded the video, click on "Select Caption" right under the video preview.
Now you can upload your SRT file that Streamlabs Podcast Editor generated for you. Make sure that the file name of the SRT file has the same name as your video. LinkedIn has recently had some problems with file names being different.
Pro tip: Also upload a Thumbnail in addition. It will also help you to attract initial attention for people scrolling through the newsfeed.
Well done, that's it! You added subtitles to your LinkedIn video. Now your video is ready to be posted and subtitles will be shown up as closed caption in the native LinkedIn style.
Side note
The subtitle style, such as the font size, position and color, is determined by LinkedIn itself. If you prefer to have the closed captions burned in your video, you can also add them directly to your video with Streamlabs Podcast Editor.