Captions for TikTok, Reels and Shorts: native or burned-in
On TikTok, open More options on the post screen, tap Select video language, then post: eligible videos show auto-generated captions (TikTok's help, read October 29, 2026). Instagram and YouTube have their own switches, below. These native captions have three limits: on TikTok the viewer can hide them, you control little of the style, and the language list is not given. If you want the same look everywhere, use an editing tool that draws the captions into the picture, and keep them clear of the app's buttons.
By Quentin, video editor, founder of Rushly AI. Official help pages read on October 29, 2026. Button names change, so check on your screen.
This page is about the on-screen text that follows your voice. The text you type under a post is also called a caption, and it is a different thing.
TikTok
Two routes exist in TikTok's help.
Auto-generated captions, set when you post:
- In the TikTok app, upload or create a video.
- On the post screen, tap More options.
- Tap Select video language and choose the language of the captions.
- Tap Post. Eligible videos show captions in that language.
TikTok does not say which videos are eligible. To fix a line, tap the caption on your video, then Edit captions, change or delete text, and tap Save.
Creator captions, set while editing: on the preview screen, tap Captions on the side panel. Your speech is transcribed, you can change the font style and color, and you review each line before you tap Save. The first time, you are asked to opt in.
Instagram Reels
Meta's help page for the iPhone app: tap Create, then Reel, pick a video and tap Next twice. Tap More options, then switch on Enable closed captions. A second switch, Translate closed captions, sits beside it. For a reel you already posted, open it from your profile, tap Options, then Edit, then More options.
Meta also says the feature is only available in some locations and is not available on computers. The page for viewers has a question titled "How do I turn off Instagram captions?", but we could not open its answer, so we do not say how a viewer hides them on Reels.
YouTube Shorts
YouTube creates automatic captions with speech recognition and says quality varies. The supported languages cover uploaded videos and Shorts, and the list includes English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese. To correct them, open YouTube Studio, choose Subtitles, pick the video, then More beside the subtitles. YouTube warns that mispronunciations, accents, dialects and background noise can make the text wrong, and that captions may not appear on videos with poor audio. A Short is square or vertical and lasts up to 3 minutes.
Native or burned-in?
| TikTok native | Reels native | Burned-in (drawn into the picture by an editing tool) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shown by | the app | the app | your video itself |
| Viewer can hide them | yes: Share, Captions, Show captions | not confirmed | no, by our reading |
| Style | font style and color with creator captions | not stated | whatever your tool offers |
| Fix after posting | yes, Edit captions | an on/off switch; editing the text is not described | no: re-export and repost |
| Languages | not listed | not listed | depends on the tool |
The last column is our reasoning, not a platform statement. One thing we did not test: whether burned-in captions pile up on top of native ones if you leave the native switch on. Switch the native captions off when you post to be safe.
Where captions can sit: the safe zone
The interface covers the bottom and the sides: account name, description, buttons. A caption placed too low disappears behind them.
- Meta gives percentages for its 9:16 Reels ads: keep key text about 14% from the top, 35% from the bottom and 6% from each side. On a 1080 by 1920 frame that is roughly 269, 672 and 65 pixels (our arithmetic, not Meta's). These are ad rules, not rules for ordinary Reels.
- TikTok publishes downloadable safe-zone files for in-feed ads and no written values. The page, updated in June 2026, says the zone depends on the video's orientation, the length of the ad caption and the extra formats used.
- YouTube Shorts: we found no official safe zone.
- Third-party guides do not agree with each other. One of them, Reap (September 7, 2026), suggests about 15% at the top, 10 to 15% on the sides and 25 to 35% at the bottom, and says itself that these are not official specifications for organic posts.
A cautious rule of thumb: keep captions between about 269 and 1248 pixels from the top of a 1080 by 1920 video and at least 65 pixels from each side. That is our calculation from Meta's ad numbers. Before you post, preview the video in the app, because editing software shows the whole frame with nothing on top of it.
When native captions are not enough
- You want a look (one word at a time, a colored keyword): see animated word-by-word captions.
- You do not want viewers to hide them.
- You post the same video on several apps and want it to look the same.
- The language you speak is not on the platform's list.
In each case an editor that draws the captions into the picture is the answer. A full AI video editor can also cut the dead air first: remove filler words and remove silences.
With Rushly AI
Rushly AI adds word-by-word captions that follow your voice and returns a 9:16 MP4 (1080 by 1920). The captions are drawn into each frame of the exported video, so they are burned-in captions: the viewer cannot hide them, and you should switch the native ones off when you post. Rushly AI keeps its caption text between x 140 and 940 and y 269 and 1248, the zone described above. You post the file yourself. Caption accuracy is something to measure, not to promise: we have not published a measurement. If you are comparing caption tools, see Rushly AI as an alternative to Captions.
When Rushly AI is not the right choice
- You only want captions on a video that is already edited. The native switch, or the caption tool you use now, will do.
- Nobody talks to the camera, or several people talk at once. Rushly AI is for one person talking to the camera.
Sources
Pages read on October 29, 2026:
- TikTok Support, "Accessibility for your videos" (creators): tiktok.com/support/faq_detail?id=7581826684102679052 ; "Accessibility for watching videos" (viewers): tiktok.com/support/faq_detail?id=7581820706338642443
- Instagram Help Center, "Manage closed captions for your reels on Instagram" (iPhone): help.instagram.com/7487270478066359 ; "Manage reels and video captions on Instagram": help.instagram.com/225479678901832
- YouTube Help, "Use automatic captions": support.google.com/youtube/answer/6373554 ; Shorts: support.google.com/youtube/answer/12779649
- Meta, Instagram Reels ads guide: facebook.com/business/ads-guide/update/image/instagram-reels
- TikTok Ads Help, "Auction In-Feed Ads" (updated June 2026): ads.tiktok.com/help/article/video-ads-specifications
- Reap, "Short-form video safe zones" (September 7, 2026): reap.video/blog/short-form-video-safe-zones
- PLOS ONE, Szarkowska et al., 2024: journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0306251
To see animated captions on your own video, try Rushly AI with your first video free.
Frequently asked questions
Can viewers turn off TikTok captions?
Yes. TikTok's help says viewers can turn auto-generated captions on or off from the Share button on a post, then Captions, then Show captions, and only when the post has captions. Captions drawn into the picture by an editing tool are part of the video, so that setting does not touch them. That second point is our reading, TikTok's help does not say it.
Are Instagram's automatic captions available everywhere?
No. Meta's help page for Reels captions says the feature is only available in some locations. The steps we read are for the iPhone app, and the page says the feature is not available on computers.
Which languages do TikTok's auto captions support?
TikTok's help lets you choose the video language on the post screen but does not list the languages, and we did not find a current list. YouTube says automatic captions for uploads and Shorts cover dozens of languages, including English and Spanish. Check in your own app.
Do I need captions on a talking-head video?
A viewer who scrolls with the sound off gets nothing from your voice, so captions carry the message. A study of 168 viewers found that watching without sound raised effort and lowered comprehension a little, but both videos in that study had subtitles, so it does not measure what captions are worth.
What is the difference between a caption and a subtitle?
In the English help pages we read, TikTok calls the on-screen text that follows your speech captions and Instagram calls it closed captions, while many editing tools say subtitles for the same thing. The text you type under a post is also called a caption, which is a different thing.
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