Removing subtitles from Shorts, Reels and other vertical videos

Updated October 26, 2026 · Peelframe

Sometimes you want to repost your own Short in another language or give it a new caption style. Vertical videos tend to have big subtitles, placed in the middle of the frame, with bold colors and effects. Here is what helps when you process your own Shorts, Reels or TikTok videos with Peelframe.

Resolution: 1080×1920 goes in as it is

Peelframe handles up to 1920 px on the long side and 2.07 megapixels. The standard Shorts size, 1080×1920, is exactly 2,073,600 pixels, so it goes in without resizing.

4K phone footage is larger. A 2160×3840 (vertical 4K) video needs its long side reduced to 1920 px first; see supported formats and how to convert.

The length limit is 3 minutes, so most Shorts and Reels go through in one piece. Rotation information in phone videos is applied, so the result is saved upright, and videos with uneven frame timing are saved at their average frame rate.

What vertical captions look like, and the settings that suit them

• Captions in the middle: the bottom of a Shorts screen is covered by the app's buttons and description, so captions are often placed in the middle or just below it. For auto removal, set the Search area to Middle third, or Whole frame if positions vary.
• Big letters, thick outlines: heavy borders and shadows spread well beyond the letters. When marking the area yourself, include the full border.
• Word-by-word captions: captions that add one word at a time or change color with the speech are found and erased in every frame where the text shows. Text that flashes by for only a few frames can be missed, so check Leftover subtitle check afterwards.
• Emoji and stickers: detection can miss emoji. For an emoji or graphic that stays in one place, mark just that time with Whole fixed overlay · selected time.
• A title fixed at the top: a title line that stays at the top for the whole video is easier to handle as its own Top area box, separate from the dialogue captions.

Process on a computer, not the phone

AI restoration needs a lot of memory and graphics power. Phone browsers can run out of memory and stop, so desktop Chrome or Edge is recommended. You can then get the result onto your phone and post it right away (getting the result onto your phone).

Before you post

The result is an MP4 with the same resolution and length as the original. Platforms compress every upload again, so see keeping quality when you upload before posting. Taking someone else's Short, removing its captions and posting it again infringes copyright and breaks platforms' reused-content rules. Use this only on your own videos or ones you have permission to edit.