Hardcoded subtitles
burned-in / open captions baked permanently into the video frame
Hardcoded subtitles — also called burned-in subtitles or open captions — are permanently rendered into the video pixels — identical on every player and platform, but viewers can't turn them off. Required for TikTok, Reels, and Shorts where caption tracks are hidden during feed autoplay.
In depth
Hardcoded subtitles are rasterized directly into the video pixels during export. 'Hardcoded,' 'burned-in,' and 'open captions' are three names for the same technique — 'hardcoded' is the engineer's term, 'burned-in' is the editor's term, and 'open captions' is the broadcast/accessibility term. Because they're part of the image, they survive any platform, codec, or player — there's no separate text track to lose, no font fallback to fail. The trade-off is permanence: the viewer can't toggle them, choose a language, or restyle them. This is the default delivery format for short-form social (TikTok, Reels, Shorts, X) where soft caption tracks don't survive cross-posting.
When to use it
Hardcode when delivering to platforms with weak or unreliable caption support (TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, ad networks), when style is critical (designer captions, kinetic typography), or when you want guaranteed visibility regardless of the viewer's settings. Use a soft caption track (SRT/VTT) instead for long-form YouTube, Vimeo, courses, and anywhere accessibility compliance requires a toggleable track.
Frequently asked
Are hardcoded subtitles the same as burned-in subtitles or open captions?+
Yes — all three terms describe captions baked permanently into the video frame. 'Burned-in' is the editor's term, 'hardcoded' is the engineer's term, and 'open captions' is the broadcast/accessibility term.
How do I hardcode subtitles into a video?+
Most tools support it: ffmpeg with the subtitles filter, Premiere Pro by exporting captions burned in, DaVinci Resolve via the Edit page, CapCut natively, and SoCaptions exports MP4 with captions burned in by default.
Are hardcoded captions accessible?+
They're visible to everyone but don't satisfy 'closed captions' accessibility requirements that demand toggleable tracks. For broadcast/streaming compliance, deliver a separate VTT or SRT alongside the burned-in MP4.
Captions burned permanently into the video frame so every viewer sees them. The opposite of closed captions, which can be toggled.
Captions that the viewer can toggle on or off, typically delivered as a separate text track encoded into or alongside the video.
A heavily-styled subtitle format used by Aegisub and the anime fansub community. Supports per-cue fonts, colors, positioning, and karaoke timing.
An MP4 with captions permanently baked into the pixel data — always visible on every platform, no toggle needed. The standard export format for TikTok, Reels, Shorts, and X where separate caption tracks are unreliable or invisible.