Subtitles allow you to display text while your video is being played back. This can be to:
Translate foreign dialogs to the native language of the viewers
Make ambiguous dialogs or whispering clear
Add comments
There is really no limit to what you can do with subtitles nor should you restrict yourself; the great thing about home-made videos is creativity!
Many methods exist to insert subtitles to a video; you can specifically:
1. "Burn" the subtitles in the video or in other words, make them part of the video at the pixel level
2. Attach them to the video as a text stream.
3. Attach them to the video, externally, as text; this means they are not contained in the same file, but can be displayed using additional software
Naturally, each method has its own advantages and disadvantages; the main ones are presented in the following table:
Method |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
---|---|---|
Burn-in |
No additional software required for playback—subtitles will be displayed on every machine that can play the video... |