Studio 21.1.1
TITLES & SUBTITLES · STUDIO REQUIRED

How to generate automatic subtitles

DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1 · Original practical guide

Automatic subtitles provide a first transcript, not finished captions. Proofreading, speaker meaning, and timing still need a human pass.

Before you begin

Have a timeline ready and decide where the text should begin and end. This workflow uses a Studio-only feature.

ACTUAL RESOLVE INTERFACEView full size ↗
Create Subtitles from Audio in the Edit workspace
Create Subtitles from Audio in the Edit workspace Reference example from the DaVinci Resolve 21.1 manual, page 1234. Software screenshot © Blackmagic Design. The demonstration media and selected settings may differ from your project.

Step by step

  1. Open the intended timeline and make sure the dialogue you want transcribed is audible. Remove or mute unrelated scratch recordings.
  2. Use Timeline > Create Subtitles from Audio. Choose the language and available caption-generation options appropriate to the material.
  3. Generate the subtitle track, then review every caption against the audio. Correct names, punctuation, technical terms, and transcription mistakes.
  4. Trim caption boundaries and improve line breaks. Watch the entire sequence at normal speed before selecting a delivery format.

Check your result

The captions match the actual speech, appear at the right time, and remain readable.

If it doesn’t work as expected

Background music, overlapping voices, and unclear recordings reduce accuracy. Correct the track manually instead of assuming another automatic pass will fix every word.

BUILD THE UNDERLYING SKILL

Edit with precision

Go deeper with the course’s explanations, exercises, and knowledge checks.

Open module 04 →

Technical reference: DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Reference Manual, Blackmagic Design, September 2026. Screenshot page numbers refer to that manual. Independently written guidance; specific controls may vary by platform and build. Authorship & image credits.