How to Add Captions to a Screen Recording (Auto-Generated)

Most viewers watch online videos on mute. If you are uploading product demos to Twitter/X, LinkedIn, or sharing tutorials on YouTube, having captions is essential. If people cannot read what you are saying, they will scroll past.

Generating subtitles manually by listening and typing is incredibly tedious.

Here is how to transcribe and add auto-generated captions to your screen recordings on macOS.

Method 1: Using Auto-Generated Captions in Web Editors

If you already have a finished MP4 file, you can upload it to web-based caption editors.

1. Upload your video file to a captioning tool.
2. Wait for the server to transcribe your audio.
3. Correct any spelling mistakes in the generated text.
4. Select a template and style your subtitles.
5. Export and download the final MP4.

Limitations: These tools upload your video to the cloud, raising privacy concerns. They also charge monthly subscriptions and have file size limits.

Method 2: Local AI Transcription with Whisper

For maximum privacy and zero cost, you can run AI transcription locally on your Mac using Whisper:

1. Install Whisper via terminal:

   pip install openai-whisper
   

2. Generate an SRT subtitle file:

   whisper input.mp4 --model base --output_format srt
   

3. Use a video editor to import the SRT file and style the text over your video.

The Integrated Approach: Local-First Captions

Running separate transcription models and importing subtitle files is a fragmented workflow.

ScreenKite integrates local AI transcription directly into the recorder. The moment you stop recording, ScreenKite transcribes your audio locally on your Mac's Neural Engine. You can edit the text, style the subtitles directly on the canvas, and export a polished video with burned-in captions instantly.