What is an animated captions generator?

An animated captions generator turns a video's speech into on-screen captions that move with the voice: words appear, pop or light up as they are spoken. Valmera generates them from a word-level transcript, so every highlight is timed to the audio, and burns them into the exported MP4.

How do I make captions that highlight each word as it is spoken?

Upload the video to Valmera and type "add karaoke captions". The agent builds the captions from word timestamps and moves the highlight to each word as it is said. Name the colors, font and position you want, review the preview, and export.

What is the difference between karaoke captions and one-word captions?

Karaoke captions keep a short group of words on screen and highlight the one being spoken. One-word captions show a single word at a time, replaced by the next. Karaoke reads more easily for dense speech; one word at a time feels faster and suits hype or motivational clips.

How many words should show at once?

Two to four for vertical short-form, so the eye stays near the face. The karaoke style shows three by default, and you can set any group size from 1 to 16. Longer groups wrap into blocks that compete with the picture.

Can I change the font and highlight color?

Yes. Choose any bundled font, such as Anton, Bebas Neue, Montserrat, Poppins Black or Inter Display, set the text and highlight colors, force all caps, and change size and position. Custom font uploads are not supported.

Why does the highlight arrive early or late?

Usually because the transcript misheard or merged a word near that spot. Give the agent the moment ("the highlight at 0:05 is early") and it checks the word timing against the audio. Highlights follow every cut automatically, so trimming the video never knocks them out of sync.

Can I export karaoke captions as an SRT or VTT file?

No. Animated captions are burned into the picture; Valmera has no SRT or VTT export. Subtitle files cannot carry these styles on social platforms anyway, which is why animated captions are burned in.

Are animated captions free in Valmera?

Creating an account and uploading are free. Editing, including captions, requires a subscription. Exports end with a brief Valmera end card.

Animated Captions Generator: Word-by-Word Highlight Captions

Valmera generates animated captions that highlight each word as it is spoken. Upload a video and type “add karaoke captions”: the AI agent times every highlight to the word-level transcript, styles the captions, places them clear of your face, and burns them into the export.

Choose the motion you see on TikTok and Reels: an accent box that follows the voice, a word that pops in color, or one glowing word at a time, in your colors and font.

Add Word-by-Word Captions

Upload, describe the look, review the preview. Creating an account and uploading are free; editing requires a subscription.

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How to Make Animated Captions in Valmera

1
Upload the video
MP4, MOV, M4V, MKV or WebM, up to 14 GB and 3 hours. Indexing builds a word-level transcript: the timing for every highlight.
2
Fix names first
Skim the transcript for brand names and people. Correct them in the panel or in chat so the right words light up.
3
Describe the look
“Karaoke captions, white text, yellow box on the spoken word, near the bottom.” Or name a style: karaoke, beast, spotlight, podcast or reels.
4
Review and export
The agent audits the caption timing and checks rendered frames. Watch a fast passage, adjust size, color or grouping, then export the MP4.

PROMPTS TO PASTE

Add karaoke captions: white text with a yellow box on the spoken word.

Animated captions, one glowing word at a time, centered.

Make the spoken word pop in green, all caps, in Anton.

Show three words at a time near the bottom, clear of my face.

The highlight on “Valmera” at 0:05 arrives early. Check it against the audio.

Four Ways to Animate the Spoken Word

Look	Style	What the viewer sees
Box follows the voice	karaoke	A short group stays on screen while an accent box moves to each spoken word.
Spoken word pops in color	beast	Loud all-caps type; the current word jumps out in the accent color.
One word at a time	spotlight	A single glowing word, centered, replaced as each new word is spoken.
Words land as spoken	podcast, reels, stacked	Words appear on their own beat and stay; keywords light up or grow.

Bright rotating boxes and colors suit hype and gaming. On calm or cinematic footage, white words that grow on emphasis read more polished. The full style list is on add captions to video.

Settings That Matter

Setting	Default	How to change it
Words per group	3 for karaoke; 1–2 for most short-form styles	“Show up to four words at a time.” Any size from 1 to 16 works.
Highlight color	Warm yellow	“Highlight in green.” Any hex color works.
Font and case	Set by the style	“Anton, all caps.” Bundled fonts only.
Animation	Set by the style	“Bounce the words in,” “elastic,” or “no animation.”
Position	Bottom; single-word looks centered	“Move them up a bit.” A fixed position holds for the whole video.
Emphasis	Stressed words and numbers, chosen automatically	“Make ‘free’ huge every time,” or “no emphasis.”

Why the Highlight Stays in Sync

Every highlight advances on a word's own start time from the word-level timestamps, not on an even split of the sentence. Captions are computed from the edit, so cutting silences or filler words later never pushes them out of sync. Before replying, the agent audits the caption track for late starts, missing words and overlaps.

Corrections are text-only: “change ‘Val Mira’ to ‘Valmera’” can change the number of words, applies everywhere or at one time you name, and leaves the audio untouched. Filler sounds never appear in captions, so “um” will not light up.

Common Mistakes

Long groups. Six or more words with a moving highlight on a vertical frame becomes a wall of text. Two to four reads better.
A highlight color that disappears. Yellow on a sunny beach, red on a red shirt. Pick a color that contrasts with the footage.
Mid-frame captions over a face. Only single-word looks belong in the center; keep groups at the bottom.
Stacking on old captions. If the footage already has burned-in captions, erase them first so the new ones do not collide.

Limits

Animated captions are burned into the video: no SRT or VTT export, and viewers cannot switch them off. Fonts come from the bundled set. Captions follow speech recognition, so sung lyrics over a loud mix transcribe less reliably than speech; check the words. English is the best-tested language.

Related Tools

For phrases that appear beside the speaker instead of at the bottom, use kinetic typography. For readable subtitles and translations, see the auto subtitle generator. Workflows for TikTok creators, YouTubers and podcasters show animated captions in context; the captions docs and the AI video editor page cover the rest.

Over Valmera's MCP server, animated captions are add_captions with a style such as karaoke or spotlight, restyled with set_caption_style.

Frequently Asked Questions

Made with Valmera: real exports

Make Your Captions Move with Your Voice

Word-timed highlights, styled by request, burned into a full-quality export. Creating an account and uploading are free; editing requires a subscription.