Uploading your own subtitle file to YouTube gives viewers accurate captions (better than auto captions), lets you add other languages, and gives YouTube more text to understand your video.
Step 1: get an SRT
If you don’t have one, create it from the video with the AI subtitle generator, then read it once and fix names in Subtitle Studio.
Step 2: upload in YouTube Studio
- YouTube Studio → Subtitles → choose the video.
- Set the video language if asked.
- Add language → pick the language of your file → under Subtitles, Add → Upload file → “With timing”.
- Select the SRT, check the preview, Publish.
Step 3: add more languages
Translate your SRT with the free subtitle translator (timings stay the same) and upload each language the same way. Viewers choose it in the CC menu.
If YouTube rejects the file
- Overlapping times: fix overlapping subtitles.
- Strange characters: save as UTF-8 or use fix subtitle encoding.
- Wrong format: convert to SRT with the subtitle tools.
Bonus: chapters
With the transcript ready, the free YouTube chapters generator gives you 00:00 timestamps and a summary for the description.