How to Add Subtitles in Canva

Select the video and click Captions in the toolbar — or go to Text > Dynamic text > Captions — pick a style and generate: Canva writes editable captions from the speech in 57 languages. Canva's help describes no way to upload or download an SRT, so the captions live only in the design and in MP4 downloads.

At a glance

Imports subtitle files	Not described in Canva's help — captions are generated from speech
Built-in auto captions	Yes: Editable Captions, 57 languages, 20+ style packs
Export as a file	Not described — no SRT or VTT download
Burn into the video	Yes, when you download as MP4
Styled caption packs	English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian and German only

Generate captions in the editor

Open a video design (or a social media or audio design with speech).
Select the video and click Captions in the toolbar, or go to Text > Dynamic text > Captions.
Choose a style pack; optionally set the spoken language or a translation.
Generate. The captions land on the timeline as their own layer, where you can edit the text.

Keep the captions in your download

Download the design as MP4 — the captions are burned into the video. Image and PDF downloads don't include them.

If you already have an SRT

There is no documented way to bring an SRT into Canva. Canva's own fallback is typing captions with the Text tool. A faster route is to burn the SRT into the video first and use that video in Canva.

Things that trip people up

Canva has two caption features: Editable Captions (burned into MP4 downloads) and Accessibility view-only captions, which can't be edited or downloaded.
On desktop, wait for the video to finish uploading before generating captions.
Music or noise causes missed lines: use Audio tools > Enhance voice and regenerate.
If the language was detected wrongly, delete the captions, set the language and regenerate.

Questions

Can I upload an SRT file to Canva?

Canva's help doesn't describe any way to upload SRT or VTT files; captions are generated from the speech or typed by hand.

Can I download captions from Canva as SRT?

No such option is documented. Captions are included only when you download the video as MP4.

How many languages do Canva captions support?

57 for generating captions; styled caption packs are available in six languages.