For Final Cut Pro transcription, select speech clips in the timeline, then choose Edit → Generate Captions → Subtitles for visible title clips or Closed Captions for an exportable caption track. Apple’s current Final Cut Pro for Mac 12.4 guides require Apple silicon and U.S. English for generation; the first use downloads a language model and needs internet.
The choice matters before you style the words. A client asking for an SRT file needs a caption-file deliverable. Animated words in the video picture are a different output, even when both begin with the same speech. Apple documents the two paths in its subtitle-generation guide and closed-caption creation guide.
This guide follows those versioned controls, checked October 27, 2026. Procedures come from documentation; the timecode example is illustrative. We sell the optional transcription app described in the final section and are not affiliated with Apple.
Choose the timeline object your delivery needs
| Required result | Start with | What Final Cut creates |
|---|---|---|
| Styled or animated words visible in the picture | Generate Captions → Subtitles | Standard connected title clips, using the Subtitle title and Subtitles role. |
| A separate caption file for a player or publishing service | Generate Captions → Closed Captions | Connected iTT captions in the dedicated closed-caption lane. |
| Both a caption file and styled words in the picture | Reviewed closed captions first | A caption source you can duplicate into another format and into subtitle titles. |
These are Final Cut’s object names, rather than a universal definition of what captions should contain. Automatic speech recognition still needs wording and timing review. Add speaker identification and meaningful sound information when viewers need them; a generated speech track alone does not establish complete caption coverage.
Choose the clips whose speech belongs in the result. Both native commands transcribe the selected timeline clips; do not assume choosing the command means every spoken clip in the project was included. Check the resulting coverage against the intended edit.
For styled titles, Apple’s subtitle guide provides Title inspector settings for word highlighting, fill, animation and vertical-video positioning. For a sidecar file, keep working with closed captions. Styling a title does not turn it into an SRT caption track.
Keep a caption source when you need both outputs
Suppose a delivery asks for a caption file plus a social video with prominent words in the picture. Starting with closed captions lets you review one source before making the two delivery versions.
- Select the intended speech clips and generate Closed Captions. Review the resulting iTT text and timing against the edit.
- If the destination asks for SRT, select the reviewed captions, then choose Edit → Closed Captions → Duplicate Captions to New Format → SRT. Keep the original iTT captions.
- To make styled subtitle titles, select the reviewed closed captions you want to use and choose Edit → Closed Captions → Duplicate Captions to Subtitles.
- Style the new title clips for the visible-word version. Check that the intended text appears once; turn off the original captions role in the timeline index when you no longer need that layer displayed.
Apple’s format-conversion guide recommends duplication in most cases because it retains the original. Conversion can lose text or formatting, so inspect the SRT copy. Its caption-to-subtitle guide documents that the second duplication creates connected title clips while keeping the closed captions.
Treat the results as separate copies. If a name or sentence changes after duplication, check each deliverable that contains it. Retaining the original is useful; leaving different corrections in the file and the visible titles is not.
Export caption times for the movie that will receive them
Open the project, then choose File → Export Closed Captions. Select the language subroles you intend to deliver. Final Cut writes a separate caption file for each selected language subrole.
The Start Time choice controls the relationship to the receiving movie:
- Relative to Timeline subtracts the project’s start time from each caption’s start time.
- Absolute retains each caption’s actual timeline start time, regardless of where the project begins.
Those are the documented rules in Apple’s caption-export guide. Use the time origin requested by the recipient. A movie that starts playback at zero usually needs the corresponding elapsed times; an absolute-timecode workflow may need the retained project times.
Worked example: a three-second cue in a one-hour-start project
These are authored example values, not an exported Final Cut file or a recognition result. Assume the project begins at 01:00:00:00. One caption starts at 01:00:03:00 and ends at 01:00:05:00; all example frame fields are zero.
| Export choice | Caption interval in the example | Result with a matching zero-start movie |
|---|---|---|
| Relative to Timeline | 3–5 seconds | The caption matches speech three seconds into playback. |
| Absolute | 1 hour 3 seconds–1 hour 5 seconds | The caption is scheduled an hour later than that speech. |
The words and interval length can be correct while the time origin is wrong. Re-transcribing the speech would not fix that offset. Export with the intended origin, then load the file with the exact movie it accompanies and check an early cue, an edited transition and the ending before reviewing the whole track.
For SRT, Apple’s export guide also recommends removing formatting in most cases because players can render it differently. Follow a recipient’s explicit formatting requirement, then inspect that destination. The SRT and VTT guide covers their syntax and conversion differences.
Use the manual caption route when native generation does not fit
The U.S. English generation limit is separate from a caption role’s format or language. Choosing a language subrole names the caption version; it does not make the recognition engine transcribe or translate a different language.
If you already have a timed caption file, Apple’s import guide documents File → Import → Closed Captions for valid CEA-608 (.scc), iTT (.itt) or SRT (.srt) files. Use one of those documented formats. A .vtt file needs a real conversion to a supported format, with the resulting text and timings checked; changing the extension is insufficient.
If you have reviewed words without caption timing, create the required caption role through Modify → Edit Roles → Captions. Then position the playhead and use Edit → Closed Captions → Add Caption. Enter the text, adjust the caption’s start and end against the speech, and repeat for the next passage. Apple’s manual-caption instructions also explain the editor’s validation warnings. A chosen format can impose limits on the text it accepts.
Finish dialogue edits before caption alignment. Later moves can change timing, and deleting a clip can delete its connected captions. After an edit, inspect the affected captions and the delivered output together.
When you need source words from a saved recording
We develop and sell Paraspeech. It can supply a first transcript from a permitted, compatible saved-audio file when you need a separate Mac transcription step. Its released Mac 1.7.3, build 372 file workflow requires a supported Apple silicon Mac, a downloaded local speech model and eligible access.
For words matching the finished edit, Final Cut documents File → Share → Export File, with Audio Only in the destination’s Format settings. Use the intended project or a proper project-range selection; a clip selection alone does not select a portion of a project for sharing. Apple’s export procedure and destination settings describe those choices. Check that the saved audio’s container and codec suit the transcription route.
In Paraspeech, choose Transcription Only if you want to skip an AI rewrite, add the compatible file, and copy the ready item’s text. Check the words against the audio before entering them into Final Cut’s manual caption editor. Copy supplies source text; caption objects, sound and speaker cues, timing and final export still need their own work. Local speech recognition and optional rewriting are separate processing choices.
Transcribe source audio on Mac if that separate stage fits your edit. The audio-file guide covers setup. If Final Cut’s native generation already gives you the required captions, continue with its review and delivery controls.
