Styling captions and one-word pop-in captions in Video by Zaweba

Captions made from speech are useful as they come. With a little styling they become part of the look of a video too. Short social clips in particular often use bold captions that appear a word at a time, punching in as the speaker says them. Video by Zaweba has styling options for captions and two pop-in tools that create that effect.

Caption styles

Caption styles set how captions look: the type, colour and so on, applied consistently to the captions on the track. Pick a style that reads well over your footage. Captions have one job above all, to be read quickly, so clarity beats decoration.

Good defaults are simple: a clean typeface, a size you can read on a phone, and enough contrast with the picture behind. If your footage changes from bright to dark, a style with an outline or a shaded background holds up in both.

One word at a time

The One word at a time option splits captions into single words in capitals, and each one pops in as it's spoken. The effect is energetic and hard to ignore, which is why it's popular on short vertical videos where people watch with the sound off.

It works best on punchy, short-form content: hooks, quick tips, reactions, trailers. On a long, calm interview it can become tiring, because the eye has to keep jumping to each new word. Choose it for pace, not by default.

Pop each caption in

Pop each caption in works on any captions, not just the single-word kind. Each caption pops in rather than simply appearing. It's a gentler version of the same energy, good when you want a bit of life without breaking every sentence into single words.

Turning a caption into a title

A caption can be turned into a title clip. That's handy when one line deserves special treatment: a key quote you want large in the middle of the frame, a punchline you want to animate, or a phrase you want to style differently from the rest of the captions. Once it's a title, it takes the full set of title tools, including text styles and animation.

Making captions work hard

Check the wording before styling. Captions made from speech are spelled from your script when you have one, but read them through anyway, especially names, numbers and anything technical. Fix the text first, then style.

Mind where they sit. Captions usually live near the bottom, which is also where lower thirds go. Plan the layout so the two don't overlap.

Keep the style consistent across a series. Viewers come to recognise a channel's caption look, and switching it every video undoes that.

And think about where it will be watched. Burned-in styled captions are part of the picture and can't be turned off, while an .srt file lets players show their own. Styling and pop-in effects apply to burned-in captions, so if you want the look, that's the route. Video by Zaweba gives you both, so you can choose per video.