How to Add Captions to Quicktime Movies

QuickTime Pro allows you to add captions to any QuickTime .mov file using the QuickTime Player. Captions are generally included in movies to describe what is taking place, or to provide other useful information. With QuickTime Player you can add captions to your QuickTime movies by importing into the movie a text file that includes your captions. Importing your captions allow you to overlay them over specific parts of the movie or the entire movie. You can also add captions by copying and pasting text directly into the QuickTime movie.

Things You'll Need

• Text editor

Instructions

Importing Captions

1. Open a text editor on your computer, then type the captions that you want to add to the QuickTime movie in the text editor exactly as you want them to appear in the movie. Hit "Return" or "Enter" after each caption to add them to different frames of the movie.

2. Save the file to your computer as a .txt file. For example, "captions.txt."

3. Launch QuickTime Player on your computer.

4. Click "File" at the top of the QuickTime Player window, then select "Open File" from the drop-down menu.

5. Browse your computer for the .txt file you created, then select the file and click the "Open" button.

6. Click "Edit" at the top of the QuickTime Player window, then choose "Select All" from the drop-down menu.

7. Click "Edit" again, then select "Copy" from the drop-down menu.

8. Press the "Play" button on the QuickTime Player to bring the movie to the part where you want the captions to appear.

9. Click "Edit" at the top of the window, then select "Add to Selection and Scale" from the drop-down menu to add the captions to the movie.

10. Click "File" at the top of the window, then select "Save As" from the drop-down menu to save the QuickTime movie with the captions to your computer.

Copying and Pasting Captions

1. Open a text editor on your computer, then type the captions that you want to add to the QuickTime movie in the text editor.

2. Click "Edit" at the top of the text editor window, then choose "Select All" from the drop-down menu.

3. Click "Edit" again, then select "Copy" from the drop-down menu.

4. Launch QuickTime Player on your computer.

5. Press the "Play" button on the QuickTime Player to bring the movie to the part where you want the captions to appear.

6. Click "Edit" at the top of the QuickTime Player window, then select "Paste" from the drop-down menu to add the captions to the movie.

7. Click "File" at the top of the window, then select "Save As" from the drop-down menu to save the QuickTime movie with the captions to your computer.

References

• Apple: QuickTime User's Guide
• Apple: Adding a Text Track to a QuickTime Movie
• Apple: QuickTime Pro - How to Paste Graphics and Text