4 Often Overlooked Tips for Creating Video Subtitles to Improve Video Quality

Subtitles play a crucial role in videos. High-quality subtitles can enhance the viewer's experience, boost your video’s traffic, and make information easier to understand. Here are four often overlooked tips for creating video subtitles to improve video quality and traffic.

1. Keep Each Line Under 37 Characters

Good subtitles should be concise, allowing viewers to quickly read and understand the content. English subtitles can display up to two lines, with each line containing no more than 37 English characters (each letter, number, punctuation mark, or space counts as one character).

Subtitle line breaks should be as natural and readable as possible. Specifically, line breaks should occur at natural semantic boundaries, such as at the end of a sentence, and should avoid splitting a sentence in the middle.

2. Consider Viewers Using Mobile Devices

Viewing videos on mobile devices has become mainstream, so ensuring that your subtitles are clear and visible on small screens is crucial. When adding subtitles to vertically shot videos, break subtitles into shorter sentences so that they can perfectly fit in the video.

3. Adjust Subtitle Timing

High-quality subtitles should match the rhythm and emotions of the video. Adjust the timing to display subtitles at appropriate moments to emphasize important messages or dialogues. Ensure that subtitles do not appear before the corresponding dialogue to avoid spoilers. The duration of subtitles should be long enough, typically around half a second after the sentence's sound ends, to allow viewers to read the entire sentence.

If subtitles are too brief, viewers may miss important information. If there is minimal time between two lines of dialogue, it is recommended to display the two subtitles in a continuous and coherent manner to help viewers digest the content.

4. Pay Attention to Word Choice and Style

If you are representing a brand or company, ensure that the style of your subtitles is consistent with the brand. This helps build brand identity and leaves a positive impression on viewers. Spelling errors in subtitles can make viewers perceive unprofessionalism and may even lead to misunderstandings.

When proofreading subtitles, carefully check the content to ensure accuracy. You can use spelling check tools and have them proofread by someone to make sure there are no errors.

Subtitles are essential for video quality and traffic. By mastering the key points of subtitle creation, you can not only make your videos more engaging but also effectively convey the information you want to share with your audience. Of course, there are no absolute rules in this matter, and the above tips and suggestions may not apply to all videos. We encourage creators to adjust their subtitle style to match their video content and personal style, ultimately achieving an increase in video traffic!