Studio-Quality Auto Captions & Word Highlights in Seconds
Create animated captions for your videos directly on your computer. 100% free, private, and easy to use.
16 Studio-Grade Subtitle Presets
Switch between eye-catching active glow, cyberpunk neon, retrowave, handwritten notes, gamer RGB, and cinematic gold styles across Minimal, Bold, Cinematic, Aesthetic, and Social categories, all in 1 click.
Active Word Glow
PopularActive word scales and glows in real-time with indigo active highlight.
Neon Cyber Glow
FuturisticCyan neon glow effect with cyberpunk monospace typography.
Modern Minimal
CleanSubtle semi-transparent dark pill container for documentaries & lectures.
Bold Comic
High EnergyHigh-impact yellow typography with heavy stroke borders.
Glassmorphism
SleekFrosted glass container with gradient text highlights.
Cinematic Gold
ClassicTraditional bottom-aligned movie subtitle with warm gold drop shadow.
Minimalist Outline
SubtleClean outline typography with zero background noise.
Retrowave
Aesthetic80s-inspired neon pink and cyan glow with bold uppercase type.
Handwritten Note
PersonalWarm cursive-style notes on a cream card, perfect for personal vlogs.
Gamer RGB
BoldHigh-contrast RGB green glow built for gaming and Twitch highlight clips.
Elegant Serif
CinematicItalic serif typography with a soft gold highlight for premium storytelling.
Sunset Gradient
WarmWarm orange-to-amber gradient with a glowing gradient word highlight.
Action Spotlight
High ImpactBold red spotlight with a heavy stroke border for trailers and highlight reels.
Typewriter Terminal
RetroRetro green-on-black terminal look with a monospace typewriter reveal.
Shorts Sweep
SocialHigh-energy yellow sweep highlight tuned for Shorts, Reels, and TikTok.
Built for Video Creators
Everything you need to produce viral, perfectly timed captions for your videos in seconds.
Easy Automation
Generate, style, and render captions automatically on your computer or integrate with your video editing workflow.
100% Offline & Private
Transcribe video and audio directly on your device. Zero cloud uploads and complete privacy for your footage.
Animated Word Highlights
Highlight spoken words with real-time text animations (pop, glow, bounce, underline) built for YouTube Shorts, TikToks, and Reels.
100% Free & Open-Source
No subscription fees, no paywalls, no per-minute costs, and zero watermarks on your videos. Free forever.
16 Stylish Design Presets
Switch instantly between 16 caption styles across Minimal, Bold, Cinematic, Aesthetic, and Social categories, from Active Glow and Neon Cyber to Retrowave, Gamer RGB, and Handwritten Notes.
Flexible Export Options
Export ready-to-post MP4 videos with subtitles burned in, or save standalone subtitle files (.SRT, .VTT, .ASS).
How Auto-Caption Works
From raw video file to a finished, captioned video in 4 simple steps.
Import Video or Audio
Drop your video or audio recording into the app. Works with MP4, MOV, MKV, MP3, WAV, and more.
Automatic Speech Recognition
AI automatically transcribes speech into word-by-word timestamps directly on your computer with complete privacy.
Style & Position Captions
Choose from curated design presets like Active Glow or Bold Comic, and drag captions anywhere on screen.
Export Video or Subtitle Files
Export ready-to-post videos with styled captions or save standalone subtitle tracks (.SRT, .VTT).
Why Local Auto-Caption Beats Paid Online Tools
Stop paying monthly fees and uploading your private videos to the cloud. Auto-Caption runs 100% on your computer.
Workflow Automation
Ease of UseEasy desktop app & automated batch processing
Web browser only (Manual upload required)
Data Privacy
Security100% Local & Private (Files stay on your computer)
Uploaded to 3rd-party servers
Pricing Model
Cost$0 Forever (Free Open-Source App)
$16 – $48 / month recurring subscription
Offline Access
ConvenienceWorks 100% Offline (No Internet Needed)
Requires constant internet connection
Processing Speed
PerformanceInstant Local Processing (No Waiting Queue)
Slow upload & cloud processing queues
Export Options
FlexibilitySubtitled MP4 + Subtitle Files (SRT, VTT, ASS)
Basic SRT or watermarked video renders
AI Speech Recognition
Accuracy100% Free Local AI Speech Model
Paid Cloud Servers
Built to Be Automated by AI Agents
Auto-Caption isn't just a desktop app. It ships a headless CLI, a local REST API, and an agent skill file, so Claude Code, Cursor, and your own scripts can caption videos without opening the UI.
Headless CLI
One command transcribes, styles, and burns captions into a video end-to-end. No UI required.
python application/backend/cli.py process input.mp4 \ --preset karaoke --animation pop --output output.mp4
Local REST API
A FastAPI server on 127.0.0.1:8000 exposes transcribe, render, and export endpoints to any HTTP client.
POST /api/process-video
{ "video_path": "input.mp4", "style": { "preset": "karaoke" } }Native Agent Skill
A packaged skill file teaches Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf to caption videos from a plain-English request.
"Add captions to demo.mp4" → agent runs the CLI on your behalf
Every request runs 100% locally: no API key, no cloud upload, even when triggered by an agent.
Calculate Your Time & Money Savings
See how much money and time you save by switching from expensive online tools to free local captioning.
Content Creation Volume
vs $35/mo recurring SaaS subscriptions
Eliminating manual timestamping
Your Video & Audio Files Never Leave Your Device
0%
Local & Private Processing
0%
Speech Recognition Accuracy
0
Preset Design Themes
0x
Faster Creator Workflow
Download Auto-Caption Free App
Create studio-quality video captions natively on your computer with complete privacy.
Auto-Caption Studio (Windows 10 / 11)
Full desktop app for Windows 10 / 11. Includes 100% local AI speech recognition, 7 subtitle style presets, interactive editor, and flexible video & subtitle exports.
Love Auto-Caption? Support Development
Auto-Caption is 100% free and open-source. Your contributions help fund continuous Whisper AI updates and new subtitle features.
Hey, I'm Shreekumar 👋
Solo developer · Fresh out of Uni · India 🇮🇳
I'm a solo developer, fresh out of Uni and about 2 years deep into building software products (with the scars to prove it).
I've shipped a bunch of open source projects along the way, and 3 micro SaaS productsthat… let's just say failed spectacularly. But every failure left something behind.
One of those was Grompy, a voice-to-text tool that used OpenAI's Whisper model running locally to turn audio into text. Grompy didn't make it, but the idea underneath it did.
That's how Auto-Caption was born, built in a week, powered by the same local Whisper transcription tech. No API costs, no cloud dependency, runs right on your device. It's not “another random AI idea,” it's the one piece of Grompy that actually worked.
I built this as a small contribution to people (and AI agents 🤖) trying to move faster when putting videos together.
Hope it helps. And if you want to see what I'm building next, follow along on my socials. I post AI automation workflows and dev stuff almost daily 😄
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about free local video captioning, subtitle styles, and privacy.
Still have questions?
Check the troubleshooting guide or open a GitHub issue.
Ready to create studio-quality captions?
Download Auto-Caption today and start generating beautiful, animated captions directly on your computer for free.