Vegas Pro is a popular video editing platform that professionals and amateurs use. However, adding English text to a video on Vegas Pro can be difficult depending on what kind of text you want.
How to Add Text to Video on Vegas Pro
Vegas Pro doesn’t have a dedicated video-to-text conversion platform. Your options for adding subtitles to a video are:
- Create the subtitles by hand using text overlay
- Import an external subtitle file that you’ve converted elsewhere
Titles and screen overlays are easy and don’t require video conversion.
How to Create Subtitles on Vegas Pro Using Text Overlay
- Open Vegas Pro, click File and click New. Check the settings and click OK.
- Select Import Media. Find the video file you want to work on and click it. It’ll be opened on Vegas Pro.
- Move the clip to the timeline and right-click on it. Select Insert Video Track to add an empty video track. This must sit on the top so you can see the text in the finished video.
- Drag the Playhead to the video section where you want to add text. Right-click on the empty video later and select Insert Text Media.
- Type your text into the box.
- Next, edit the settings. You can adjust the text color, animation, location, and more. You can also change the shadow and outline if you open the Advanced settings.
- Adjust the duration of the text in the editing screen or by dragging the title layer’s ends on the timeline.
- When you’ve finished, go to File and select Render. Follow this process to preview the video.
- Repeat for every screen that needs subtitles, whether you're working in Vegas Pro or need to add text to video in QuickTime .
Best Way to Overlay Text to Video with Vegas Pro
Adding text manually to a video on Vegas Pro is simple enough when adding a title or credits. However, repeating this process for every screen that needs subtitles is lengthy.
Make sure you consider the following if using this method:
- It’s important to match up the subtitle duration to the audio track. If you don’t, the subtitles will be out of sync, confusing those who rely on them.
- You’ll need to know the content of the audio track in advance if you want it to be accurate, especially when you add text to video in Shotcut . An AI subtitle generator can also help streamline this process by automatically creating accurate subtitles. For this reason, it helps to manually transcribe the video before you begin editing.
- This method is not a streamlined solution because it involves several unnecessary steps (such as manual transcription). However, if you're editing on a mobile device, learning how to add text to video in Samsung devices can simplify the process.
What are the Alternatives to Adding Text to Video with Vegas Pro?
An alternative to adding subtitles directly to your video on Vegas Pro is to import a text file you’ve made elsewhere. It’s possible to do this using a video to text transcription platform, such as Transkriptor.
Here’s how it works:
- Upload your video to Transkriptor’s platform. It accepts various video formats, including MP4, MP3, and wav.
- Run the transcription platform, which will automatically create a text file based on your video’s audio.
- Once finished, perform a quick edit of the file to ensure it matches up to the video’s audio.
- Download the text file as a Word document, including timestamps and speakers.
If you download the text as a .srt file, you can upload it directly onto your video on Vegas Pro or add captions to your TikTok video for broader social media engagement.
How to Upload a Subtitle File to Vegas Pro
Uploading a .srt file to Vegas Pro is straightforward. The steps are as follows:
- Open Vegas Pro, select File, and Import Media. Choose the video you want to open it.
- Select Insert from the top menu and click Insert Subtitles From File. Locate your downloaded file and click OK to import it into Vegas Pro.
- Click Overlays on the right-hand side of the menu and choose the correct caption type. If you keep the Overlays menu open, it’ll preview the subtitles on the video file.
- Finally, render the file to check the subtitles and edit any mistakes you notice. There shouldn’t be many if you edited the transcription file before exporting.
What are the Usecases of Vegas Pro?
There are two main reasons to add text to a video on Vegas Pro . These are:
Creating Titles with Vegas Pro
You might want to add titles and other text files to the video. This might include:
- Openers
- Closing credits
- Titles
- Lower 3rds (extra on-screen information)
These tasks don’t require video conversion because they are extra information that is typically unrelated to the video’s audio content. For example, the title or closing credits have no relation to what sound is playing (such as a song).
Creating Subtitles with Vegas Pro
The other reason you’d want to add text is to provide subtitles. You might want subtitles because:
- Your content is in a foreign language
- You want to maximize your reach to people who are deaf or hard of hearing
- You want to make your content interactive
- A lot of people on social media prefer videos with subtitles. It allows them to watch the video without sound, arguably more considerate when out in public. This is especially true if you’re adding captions to a Twitter video to enhance viewer engagement.
- A video with subtitles can help with text-to-speech, increasing your reach even more.
Can You Convert Videos to Text with Vegas Pro?
Converting video to text in Vegas Pro isn’t possible. You can use a third-party transcription platform or manually add the subtitles using overlays.