How to Edit YouTube Captions and Subtitles

Open YouTube Studio, choose Subtitles and the video, click Edit next to the language, change the lines and click Publish. Automatic captions can’t be changed in place: choose Duplicate and edit to work on your own copy. For timing fixes across the whole video, download the subtitle file, correct it in an editor and upload it back with timing.

At a glance

Edit captions you uploaded	Yes: Subtitles → Edit → Publish
Edit automatic captions	Only a copy: Duplicate and edit
Fix timing	Edit timings, one line at a time
Download a caption track	Options → Download subtitles
Upload formats	SRT, SBV, VTT, TTML, DFXP, SCC and more

Edit captions in YouTube Studio

Sign in to YouTube Studio and choose Subtitles in the left menu.
Click the video, then Edit next to the language you want to change.
Fix the words in the caption lines, then click Publish.

Edit automatic captions

In Subtitles, open the video and find the language marked Automatic.
Choose Duplicate and edit: YouTube makes an editable copy of the automatic track.
Correct names and misheard words in the copy, then click Publish.

Fix timing outside YouTube

Edit timings moves one line at a time, which is slow when the whole track is early, late or drifting. Instead, choose Options → Download subtitles, open the file in the free subtitle editor and shift or sync it there — the editor opens SRT, VTT and SBV. Then go back to the language in Subtitles, choose to upload a file With timing and pick the corrected file.

Things that trip people up

Automatic captions are never edited in place — your fixes always go into a duplicate track.
When uploading a file, choose With timing for SRT, VTT or SBV; Without timing treats the file as a plain transcript and YouTube re-times it.
Edits to a published track show to viewers as soon as you click Publish.
A shift that fixes one video won’t fix another cut of it: download the captions of the exact video you are editing.

Questions

Can I edit YouTube’s automatic captions?

Not directly. Choose Duplicate and edit next to the automatic track, fix the copy and publish it.

How do I fix YouTube captions that are out of sync?

For a few lines, use Edit timings. For the whole track, download it, shift or sync it in the free subtitle editor and upload it again with timing.

Which subtitle files can I upload to YouTube?

YouTube accepts SRT, SBV, VTT, TTML, DFXP, SCC and several other caption formats. SRT is the safest choice.

Can I download captions from someone else’s video?

YouTube Studio only lets you download captions for videos on your own channel.