How to create animated captions automatically with AutoCut (2026 Guide)

Native manual Premiere Pro method

If you're reading this article, chances are you've been doing it the same way I used to. You'd generate automatic captions from the transcript, set the language, line length, and number of lines, then go through and fix any errors in the text and timing. After that, you'd convert the caption track into Essential Graphics, animate everything with keyframes and, depending on the effect you wanted to create, break it down further word by word.

Limitations of the manual method

This method works well and is 100% customizable.

In short, it works, but it’s quite time-consuming. We estimated about half an hour for a one-minute video. For slightly longer videos, you just need to run a few numbers, and it quickly becomes clear how much time you might waste trying to get a good result.

It’s also important to consider that creating social media content must keep up with an increasingly fast-paced consumption pattern, which requires time and consistency. A slow workflow doesn’t align well with this or with frequent content, which is essential for building loyalty among a specific audience.

How to create animated captions automatically with AutoCut

AutoCut makes this super easy, and you don’t even have to leave Premiere Pro. With just a few clicks, you can choose the style you want: the type of animation, the font, the color, the length, and the size. It’s exactly the same as doing it manually, except that AI steps in to help you automate the entire process once you’ve chosen your preferred settings. Let’s walk through step by step how to set it up and how it works.

Step 1

Once you've installed AutoCut and activated the license key, open AutoCut in Premiere Pro by going to Window > Extensions > AutoCut. This will open the plugin interface directly in Premiere.

Step 2

Select the AutoCaptions feature and choose the audio track you want to transcribe.

Step 3

Select the language to generate the transcript and subtitles, or upload an SRT file if available. AutoCut is compatible with 80+ languages and has the best transcription model.

Step 4

Select a preset from the available options and customize the style and type of animation.

Step 5

Check the result in real time and edit it as you like, then generate it automatically in just a few seconds.

And just like that, everything is ready in just a few clicks and in less than a minute. A subsequence containing the animated captions is imported into your current sequence. You can then double-click it if you want to edit it. It uses native text and shapes, so you can easily customize it.

Comparison Table

Before going into more detail, here is a comparison table that outlines some of the key features of the three options for creating animated captions: manual creation in Premiere Pro, using the AutoCut tool directly in Premiere Pro, and other external tools.

Alternatives worth mentioning

There are already several tools that essentially perform the same function and speed up the creation of animated captions.

Each has its own features, with its own pros and cons, but they all have one thing in common: they force you to leave Premiere Pro. That means ending up editing the video, exporting it, uploading it to one of these programs, starting to work on the captions, and then exporting it again. Whereas with AutoCut, as mentioned, you have everything right within Premiere Pro.

It’s still worth mentioning a few of these alternatives so that everyone can draw their own conclusions and determine which solution works best for their workflow.

CapCut

Let’s start with one of the best-known tools for this type of service: CapCut. This solution is ideal for creators who don’t use or need Premiere Pro. The AI instantly generates subtitles in over 100 languages using predefined, ready-to-use models. It’s a fairly simple tool to use, even for beginners, and in addition to the paid plan, it offers a free basic plan that includes full HD export and automatic subtitles, although watermarks may appear on some content. The main limitation is the lack of customization, which is very limited compared to other professional editing software.

VEED.io

You don't need to install anything with VEED.io. Just open it in your browser and create an account. It lets you generate automatic subtitles in over 100 languages, with some customization options. There's a free plan here as well, but it's very limited, and you'll need the paid plan to export animated captions. This tool is also a good option for anyone who wants to avoid using Premiere.

Subtitles natively in Premiere Pro

Burnt-in subtitles created directly in Premiere Pro are a viable alternative if you need static subtitles. The program allows you to transcribe in 13 languages and convert the transcription into subtitles in a simple and customizable way. The main limitation, as we've seen throughout this article, is animation. It's perfectly fine for longer, dialogue-heavy content. Less so for short social media content like TikTok and Instagram. Without AutoCut support, for example, creating the word-by-word highlight effect—which is so popular on social media—becomes a rather time-consuming and cumbersome task.

Side-by-side comparison

Now that we have a slightly more detailed overview of some of the tools at our disposal, I’d like to summarize everything visually in a table to compare them in detail.

To wrap up: the two solutions mentioned (CapCut and VEED.io) are valid alternatives, but they require you to switch away from Premiere Pro. And for those who, like me, primarily use this editing software, you also have to take into account the time lost between exporting, importing into another program, creating subtitles, and re-exporting the final result. As we all know, time is precious for a creator. I therefore believe that AutoCut is the perfect solution if you want social media-style animated captions with word highlights without having to leave Premiere Pro.