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Subtitling

Video is key to how businesses communicate, educate and inspire. Adding subtitles makes your content accessible, inclusive and ready to reach a global audience.

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Subtitling and subtitle translation services

At Planet Languages, we offer a full range of subtitling and subtitle translation services to amplify your reach – helping your video content connect with a global audience.

Subtitles are a catch-all term for what you associate with seeing at the bottom of the screen. But they’re more than a word-for-word rendition of what’s spoken.

Subtitles take into consideration:

Per-line character limits
Reading speeds
Line breaks
Screen positioning
Shot changes

Types of subtitles explained

Different projects call for different approaches. We’re always happy to advise you on what will work best for your video. Here are the different types of subtitles, and what they mean:

Closed captions (subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing)

In the same language as the audio, and include the spoken dialogue plus labels for context-relevant sounds

Aimed at people who can’t hear the audio, and can be turned on or off using the CC button

Also known in the UK as subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing – required if you’re working towards EAA compliance

Subtitles

In a different language from the audio

For viewers who can hear the dialogue but don’t speak that language

Focus on conveying meaning concisely

Subtitle template creation

In the same language as the audio, segmented and time-coded to facilitate subtitle translation

Used by subtitling professionals as the basis for creating subtitles in other languages

Allows for greater coherence across languages, speeds up production and offers more flexibility for CAT tool integration

Open captions (embedded or burnt-in subtitles)

Fully customisable, so they can reflect your brand identity

Permanently visible on your video and can’t be turned off

We advise on fonts, styles, colours, positioning and sizing

Not sure which type of subtitle you need? We’re always happy to advise on what will work best for your video.

Why choose Planet Languages for subtitling services

AI has made captioning faster than ever. We pair state-of-the-art technology with audiovisual translation experts, rigorous quality checks and honest guidance, so accuracy, accessibility and trust all come as standard.

Accuracy

We pair AI-powered speech recognition with expert linguists, so subtitles are fast to produce and checked line by line

Automated tools alone can stumble on background noise, strong accents, brand names and homophones – our QC workflows catch what they miss

Accessibility

Some caption styles turn an accessibility feature into a barrier, and can even cause motion sickness or migraines

We balance brand identity with usability

Our subtitles minimise cognitive load, keep focus on the screen and meet accessibility standards

Expert guidance

We take the time to discuss what you want to achieve, then tailor our workflow to suit

You’ll receive a binding quote – once accepted, we'll never charge more than the quoted price

Clients consistently rate our guidance, responsiveness and integrity as excellent

How our subtitling process works

From first conversation to final delivery, here’s how we turn your video into accurate, accessible subtitles.

We understand your project

We discuss your video, audience and the type of subtitles you need, then agree languages, formats and turnaround together.

We create an accurate transcript

Where there’s no existing script, we use AI-powered speech recognition to produce a fast first-pass transcript, then a linguist checks and corrects every line.

We time-code and translate

Our subtitling specialists spot and translate your subtitles, working within character limits, reading speeds and line breaks so nothing is lost along the way.

We quality-check every subtitle

Rigorous quality checks catch anything automation alone could miss, from mistimed cues to mistranslated names.

We deliver in your format

Whether you need SRT, VTT, burnt-in captions or something more specific, we deliver your subtitles ready to publish.

Subtitle translation services for your industry

We provide professional subtitling services across a wide range of industries, helping businesses like yours communicate clearly and inclusively through video.

Marketing agencies

Since platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram auto-mute video, captions keep your message landing – we help agencies reach global audiences with culturally fluent, on-brand subtitles.

eLearning course providers

Well-presented subtitles reduce concentration fatigue, support learners with additional needs, and boost language learning and literacy.

HR professionals

We help HR teams in global organisations meet diversity and inclusion goals with subtitles in employees’ own languages.

End-to-end solutions

Subtitling is one part of a much bigger toolkit for taking your video and content global.

Frequently asked questions

Translators convert text-based file formats from one language into another, but subtitle translation is much more than a word-for-word script translation. Our dedicated subtitling specialists use subtitle authoring tools to create precisely time-coded subtitles in sync with the audio, factoring in reading speeds, line breaks, character limits and position on screen.

Making your subtitles “permanently” part of the video is known as “burning in”. You might also hear this being referred to as “open captions” – subtitles that cannot be turned off. This option is ideal if you wish to publish your video on social media platforms. It’s also possible to customise the appearance of burnt-in subtitles. Closed captions, by contrast, are subtitles that can be turned on and off.

We can work with a variety of video files, including .mov, .mp4, .mpg, .avi and .wmv files.

We can provide subtitles in many different formats, with SRT and VTT being some of the most common file formats.

If you already have a transcript or script for your video, please do share it with us for our reference. A time-coded transcript will be accurate to the nearest second, but this isn’t precise enough for subtitles. Creating subtitles involves a process called spotting, or cueing – capturing when a caption should appear and disappear, in sync with the audio, to the exact frame or millisecond. In our experience, clients often find it very hard to create their own subtitles from transcripts, as they don’t take into account reading speeds, line breaks or character limits.

There are a few options for handling on-screen text. Any unspoken on-screen text could be included as part of the subtitles, if this doesn’t interrupt the flow of the audio or narration. Alternatively, if you can provide us with the original project files (such as Adobe Premiere Pro or After Effects packages), we can replace the original on-screen text with translations.

Subtitling rates are based on the duration of the video and are quoted in minutes. A minimum charge may apply for videos of very short durations.

Speak to Planet Languages about your next subtitling project

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