Remove the subtitles, then add translated ones: the whole workflow

Updated October 26, 2026 · Peelframe

You may want to switch your video's subtitles to another language for viewers abroad, or simply redesign them. This is the whole process with Peelframe and free tools: pull the original subtitles out as text, remove them from the picture, translate them and put them back.

The steps

1. Extract the original subtitles as an SRT file
2. Remove the subtitles from the picture
3. Translate and tidy the SRT
4. Add the new subtitles — as a separate file or burned into the picture

Steps 1 and 2 can be done back to back on the same video. Peelframe's result has the same length as the original, so the SRT timings still match.

Step 1. Extract the original subtitles

Open the video in the workspace, choose Korean, Japanese/Chinese or Latin alphabet under Subtitle text language (SRT) in Detection details, and press Extract SRT. Text recognition runs on your device, and logos or channel names that stay on screen are left out. Correct mistakes directly in the list, then press Save SRT file. For checking tips, see extracting on-screen subtitles as SRT.

If you still have the subtitle file used to make the video, that is the most accurate source.

Step 2. Remove the subtitles from the picture

On the same video, remove the subtitles with Remove subtitles automatically or Select an area. If the new subtitles will go in the same place, small traces are hidden under them. If they will go elsewhere, or you export without subtitles, be more thorough (tips for removing subtitles without a trace).

Step 3. Translate and tidy

• Leave numbers and timings alone: each SRT entry is a number, a timing line (00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,500) and the text. Translate only the text, and when using a translator or an AI, tell it not to change numbers or timings.
• Line length: translation changes sentence length. Netflix's style guides suggest up to 42 characters per line for English and about 16 for Korean, with two lines at a time as the usual maximum. Split long lines or shorten the wording.
• Very short subtitles: a subtitle on screen for under a second is hard to read. Consider merging it with its neighbor.
• Consistent terms: settle how names, product names and technical terms are written at the start and keep to it.
• Save as UTF-8: so letters in other languages are not garbled.

Step 4a. Upload the subtitles separately (soft subtitles)

YouTube accepts subtitle files alongside the video. In YouTube Studio, add a language under Subtitles, choose to upload a file “with timing” and select the SRT. Viewers can pick a language or turn subtitles off, and one video can carry several languages. Shorts, Reels and TikTok do not take separate subtitle files, so there the subtitles have to be burned in.

Step 4b. Burn them into the picture (hard subtitles)

• Video editors: Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, CapCut for desktop and most other editors can import an SRT as a caption track, restyle it and export.
• HandBrake: import the SRT on the Subtitles tab and enable Burn In.
• ffmpeg: ffmpeg -i peelframe.mp4 -vf "subtitles=en.srt" -c:a copy output.mp4

Burning in compresses the video once more, so keep the quality setting of the editing app you burn in with high.

Check your rights

Do this only with your own videos or ones you have permission to translate and redistribute. Swapping the subtitles on someone else's video and posting it again can infringe copyright (copyright checklist).