How to Add Subtitles in Premiere Pro

Import the .srt into your project like any media file, then drag it onto the sequence: Premiere Pro creates a caption track and you edit the lines in the Text panel. To make captions from the audio instead, use Speech to Text in the Text panel, which supports 18 languages.

At a glance

Imports	SRT, SCC, MCC, XML, STL, DFXP/TTML, SMPTE-TT, EBU-TT — not WebVTT
Built-in auto captions	Yes: Speech to Text, 18 languages; non-English needs a language pack
Export as a file	SRT, SCC, MCC, XML, STL — one caption stream per file
Burn into the video	Yes, from the Captions section of the Export workspace
Embed in the file	CEA-608, CEA-708 and OP-47 in QuickTime or MXF

Import an SRT file

Choose File > Import, or drag the .srt into the Project panel.
Drag the subtitle file from the Project panel onto the sequence — anywhere on the timeline.
Premiere Pro adds a caption track; open Window > Text to edit, retime or restyle the lines.

Generate captions from the audio

Open Window > Text and, in the Transcript tab, choose Generate static transcript. Set the language and speaker labelling, then click Transcribe.
Switch to Window > Workspaces > Captions and Graphics.
Choose Captions > Create captions from transcript, pick a preset, line length and number of lines, and create the track.

Export or burn in the subtitles

Open the Export workspace and expand the Captions section. Choose to burn the captions into the video for open captions, or to export a sidecar file and pick SRT for a separate file. An SRT holds one caption stream, so export one file per language.

Things that trip people up

WebVTT isn't on Adobe's list of supported caption formats — convert it to SRT before importing.
Add captions once the edit is final: after a recut, deleted caption segments have to be recreated by hand.
An SRT export carries one caption track; export each language separately.
Old tutorials for Premiere Pro 14 and earlier say SRT can't be imported — that is no longer true.

Questions

Can Premiere Pro import SRT files?

Yes. Import the SRT like any media file and drag it onto the sequence; Premiere creates a caption track.

Can Premiere Pro import VTT files?

No. WebVTT isn't a supported caption format, so convert it to SRT first.

How many languages does Premiere Pro Speech to Text support?

18, including English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Hindi and Chinese. Languages other than English need a language pack download.

How do I burn subtitles into a video in Premiere Pro?

In the Export workspace, open the Captions section and choose to burn the captions into the video.